


Draco Does it All Again: First Year

by Emma_with_her_head_in_the_clouds



Series: Draco Does it All Again [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Book 1: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Frustrated Draco Malfoy, Gen, Good Draco Malfoy, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Protagonist Draco, Swearing, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-24
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2020-01-31 06:10:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 29,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18585388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emma_with_her_head_in_the_clouds/pseuds/Emma_with_her_head_in_the_clouds
Summary: Draco gets sent back in time by the centaurs to before he started at Hogwarts to "fix everything". How he's going to achieve that, he's not sure. First step: befriend Potter.





	1. Chapter 1

Draco cracked open his eyes. He had a splitting headache. Maybe the centaurs just whacked him over the head. He wouldn't put it past them. Why he listened to the hoofed bastards is anyone's guess. He must be crazy.

 

The sight that greeted him definitely wasn't the forbidden forest anymore. That's one point in favour of the theory that the mules weren't chatting shit. It looked like a room. A bedroom. He opened his eyes more fully. This was his bedroom. More specifically, eleven year old him's bedroom. The walls were still covered in the old childish cartoon dragon wallpaper he had replaced when he was twelve. His Hogwarts trunk lay untouched on the floor; clearly newly purchased. Toys still lay on the shelves- he had not yet tried to throw them out on deciding he was too old for them (only to have his mother order the elves to place them in the attic instead).

 

He climbed up from the bed, feeling slightly uncoordinated at first. He looked down at his tiny limbs, hardly believing what he was seeing. His reflection in the mirror was even more alarming. Evidence seemed to suggest that it hadn't been some kind of centaur prank and inexplicably he had been transported nearly a decade back in time, and was now residing in the body of his eleven year old self.

 

Quite frankly Draco wanted to scream, but that would likely bring his parents running and that was a whole kettle of fish he wasn't ready to deal with yet. A stiff drink wouldn't go amiss, but he dreaded to think of the reaction the house elves would have if he asked for one. In frustration, Draco threw himself back down on the bed.

 

He really did it. He travelled back in time. If he hadn't already fucked up his life enough, now he had a second attempt to do it all over again. This was crazy. He was crazy. The centaurs must have been crazy to think it was a good idea to send him of all people back in time to "fix everything ".

 

Like, where would one even start with that?

 

The more he thought, the more he realised he had absolutely no clue what to do now. At the very least the centaurs should have given him chance to research before they sent him back here. He'd have paid more attention the first time if he knew he was going to have to do it again. He had almost no clue what Potter and the Order of the Phoenix had been up to when they were taking down the Dark Lord. He'd been busy fighting on the other side (or more accurately, trying to save his own hide and hoping the noseless prick didn't decide to brutally murder him and his parents). He had the feeling Potter had muttered something about Draco and a wand whilst monologuing during his final fight with the Dark Lord. He really should have been paying more attention. Alas, he wasn't.

 

Putting that aside, in order to try and push down the rising panic, Draco decided to focus on the here and now. He was just about to start his first year at Hogwarts. Why not focus on one day at a time for now? What of importance happened during that year first time round? He racked his brain. Potter had done something dramatic at the end of the year. The defence professor, what was his name? Quirell, that's it, he was involved somehow. Dumbledore gave Potter and his cronies a whole bunch of points for it, enough to steal the House Cup from Slytherin. Weasley's were definitely something to do with chess. Draco couldn't remember much else about it; at the time he'd been more annoyed about Potter getting a load of attention, and Gryffindor stealing the House Cup. But in hindsight, Draco got the feeling it was probably important somehow.

 

He tried to think of other clues to what that was about. What else had Potter been up to that year? Suddenly he remembered the detention they had together, after getting caught out after curfew (wasn’t that because Potter made up a story about a dragon or something?). They'd gone down to the Forbidden forest, searching for whatever was killing unicorns, and nearly got attacked by some monster. If that wasn't an example of the reckless child endangerment that went on at Hogwarts, he didn't know what was. Sure, Dumbledore might have been instrumental in taking down the Dark Lord, but Draco's opinion of the scheming old bastard's skills as a headteacher wasn't particularly high. That was probably one belief that his father did have right all along.

 

So in conclusion, Draco had almost zero clue how to "save everyone", and next to no idea where to even start. One thing he reluctantly admitted to himself was that this time, he probably did need to be actually successful in befriending Potter. The place to be getting all the useful intel was likely at his side. So that meant he needed to do a better job of making a first impression than he did last time. Not being rude about Weasley and the Mudblood would probably be a start. In fact, he'd better avoid using that word altogether. He was reminded of the time Weasley tried to curse him for calling Granger that, and managed to make himself vomit slugs. He took a second to laugh out loud at the memory. But he couldn't be having any of that if he wanted to make a success of his mission.

 

Suddenly there was a "pop" to his left, and Draco nearly jumped out of his skin. He scrambled around trying to find his wand, only to realise he didn't even have one yet. Urgh. That was something he hoped would be rectified sooner rather than later. He felt so weak and defenceless without it. He turned to the sound of the noise; a house elf staring at him, pulling a smug face. He scowled back.

"Master Draco should be going down to the dining room now to be eating dinner with the Master and Mistress," the elf informed him. Dobby, that's what the elf was called. Draco never liked him much. He was weird, even for a house elf. His father ending up giving him clothes, maybe at the end of second year, he thought, then the demented thing went round being a "free elf". There were a few odd rumours about what he got up to. He even managed to turn up somehow when Potter and the other two were being held captive at the manor, and apparated them away. Draco resolved that he should keep a good eye on the elf.

 

With trepidation, he headed downstairs. It was weird seeing the manor how it was before. Before the war, before the Dark Lord took it over, before everything. He entered the dining room and had to hold in a gasp when he saw his parents. They looked so young. The war hadn't been kind to them, which wasn't exactly surprising. He'd not noticed it as it happened, but the stress of it all had aged them considerably. Particularly his father. The stay in Azkaban can't have helped.

 

He thought he schooled his face well, but he still must have let something show, because his mother turned to him with worry.

"Draco darling, what's the matter? Come sit down."

"Nothing. I'm… I'm fine." He took his seat and busied himself spreading his napkin on his lap, avoiding her gaze. He needed to be careful. He mustn't attract suspicion. His father he could probably work his way around, but his mother, that would be more difficult. If she thought something was wrong she would worry, and she would dig around until she found out what it was. And Merlin help him if she came to the conclusion that he was an imposter (he was a very different person to the child he was back then after all); he'd seen how strong he maternal instincts could be, and he hated to think what she might do.

 

He managed to make his way through the dinner without creating any further suspicion, he thought. He'd managed to pick up some useful information about what was going on at this point in the timeline. Apparently tomorrow would be when they'd go to Diagon Alley to get the rest of his school stuff; he didn't have to fake the enthusiasm when his mother asked if he was excited about getting his wand.

 

He went to sleep in his old bed, thinking he might wake up and find out this had all been a dream.


	2. Chapter 2

It hadn't all been a dream. He was still here, in the past, eleven year old again. This was going to take some getting used to. His first slip up of the day was when he tried to pour himself a coffee at breakfast. Based on his mother's stare, that was not a thing eleven year old him did. Great. He was going to have to get through this nightmare without even caffeine to help him.

 

Soon they were flooing to Diagon Alley. It was strange seeing how it looked before; the war had changed the shops considerably. Draco looked round with interest. He nearly went straight past Quality Quidditch Supplies, doubling back on remembering that younger him would have wanted to stare at the broomsticks. The Nimbus 2000 seemed a bit pathetic, having seen the brooms that followed, but he eyed it with what he felt was sufficiently awed delight and longing. After visiting a few shops, letting his mother take the lead, they got to Madam Malkin's. After speaking with the assistant about what they wanted, his mother said she'd leave him there for the time being whilst she went to get more of his things and had a look at wands. Doing the latter without him sounded a bit futile to Draco, but he just agreed quietly and let her go.

 

He was halfway through having his robes fitted when something he really should have remembered from last time happened; Harry Potter walked in. Draco tried to keep his composure. This was a crucial moment; the first impression.

"Hello. You starting at Hogwarts too?"

"Erm, yeah."

"Draco Malfoy," he announced, holding out a hand (trying to avoid the witch pinning his robes). For a second, he thought it was going to be the rejected handshake all other again, but after a nervous pause, Harry took shook his hand, albeit uncertainly.

"Harry Potter."

 

Draco wasn't sure how to react to that. For a start, he didn't it to be apparent that he already knew Harry's name, but also he seemed to recall Harry didn't like it when people made a big thing of his fame (despite what younger Draco thought). The "oh" he muttered didn't seem to go down too badly.

 

"So… are you looking forwards to Hogwarts?"

"Yes. Well, I mean I only found out last night but…"

"Wait, what!?" That was something Draco was definitely not expecting to hear.

"I grew up with my aunt and uncle you see, and they're… muggles. So I kind of didn't know I was a wizard until last night…" Harry mumbled nervously, tailing off at the end. Draco just gasped, not sure what to say. He'd heard Potter lived with muggles, but he didn't even know about magic until just before he went to Hogwarts!? That explained a lot actually…

"Well, erm, you'll definitely love Hogwarts. It's one of the best magical schools in the world. You'll soon know all about being a wizard," Draco gushed, trying to save the situation. Harry looked to smile slightly at that, so it seemed to work.

 

Shortly after that, the witch fitting Harry's robes told him he was done. He must have been getting some very generic robes to be done that quickly. Someone really needed to talk to him about proper tailoring. Draco put that in a corner of his mind to go back to on a future occasion.

 

"Well, I'll probably see you on September 1st then. Come find me on the Hogwarts Express if you want," he told him. Harry muttered non-committedly in reply.

 

Well, that wasn't a total disaster. Hopefully he hadn't made Potter hate him at least. It was a starting point to build from. He was still reflecting on the situation to himself when the witch finished his robes and his mother came back to collect him.

 

They went straight to Ollivander's. Mother said she'd inspected a couple of wands she thought might suit him. Draco didn't exactly think his mother was an expert on wands, but he did spot what looked like his original wand laid out waiting, so maybe somehow she was. He thought he should try out a couple of other wands first; it would look odd if he picked up his wand first time. One made a couple of sparks, but clearly neither was a perfect match. Then he took a breath, grasped his hawthorn wand and waved it. A single tiny spark flew out.

"No, how about this one?" Ollivander suggested, passing him another wand, taking no notice of Draco's gobsmacked face. Robotically Draco waved each wand passed to him, still wondering why his wand didn't choose him. Eventually the wandmaker declared a yew wand a perfect match, but Draco wasn't really listening.

 

After that they flooed back home, and Draco had to nudge himself to start behaving more normally again. He couldn't let his mother get suspicious. The mystery of the new wand would have to be something he would ponder when he was alone.


	3. Chapter 3

The remainder of the summer passed surprisingly quickly, with Draco barely having got used to his new (old) life before it was time to go off to Hogwarts. Draco felt divided about going; on the one hand it would mean he could make a start on his mission (daunting as it was), and he probably wouldn't have to pretend so hard to be "normal" there, as most of the people would never have met him before, so wouldn't know that he was any different than the Draco he'd been when he'd originally started at Hogwarts. On the other hand though, he was still going to miss his parents. He had to admit he quite liked the feeling of being babied by them, plus it was great to see them looking far happier than they had been before he left the future.

 

But whether he liked it or not, September 1st had come around, all his stuff was packed in his school trunk, and his parents apparated him to Kings Cross. For a second, Draco nearly went ahead and apparated himself, before his mother took his hand, and he remembered that of course, as an eleven year old he wasn't allowed (or expected to be able) to apparate.

 

He glanced round platform 9 3/4, spotting all sorts of people he recognised. People he'd forgotten existed. People he hadn't seen in years. People who looked younger than he almost believed possible. And people who had died, now stood alive again once more in front of him. He was reminded why he needed to make this second chance count.

 

He couldn't see Potter though. He tried to keep an eye out for him, without looking like he was doing so. He hadn't told his parents about his meeting with him in Madam Malkin's. He wasn't sure how well his planned befriending of him would go down with them. His father had told him to get on Potter's good side, but Draco knew full well that what his father had in mind was very different to what he did. If it came down to it, he'd probably picked up enough information about his father to blackmail him to shut him up, but he hoped it wouldn't come down to that anytime soon anyway.

 

11 o clock fast approaching, Draco gave up watching out for Potter, said a final farewell to his parents and got on the train. He sat down in a compartment by himself. The train hadn't even set off when Draco was startled by the door opening and two figures entering. For a second Draco didn't recognise them; they seemed so small (though far larger than Draco was in his current body). But as he looked up, his breath caught; it was Crabbe and Goyle. Firstly, Draco was surprised that the hulking duo had ever been that small. But also of course, he hadn't seen Vincent since he watched him burn to death in the Room of Requirement. Despite how much the pair of them annoyed him at times, it was good seeing his old friends again. He hadn’t really been planning on befriending them this time around, but, Draco decided, you couldn't have too many friends, and they could come in useful. He had enjoyed using them as his muscle. He might well need some muscle at some point this time too.

 

They exchanged brief pleasantries (or the nearest Crabbe and Goyle came to pleasantries). It was quite a good job the pair had always come across a bit dim, as apparently it hadn't been long since they'd supposedly seen each other (his father having set him up "playdates" throughout his childhood with suitable purebloods, usually the children of his "not" Deatheater friends). If they'd been more astute, they might have noticed Draco had very little clue what they were talking about.

 

But a short while into the journey the conversation dried up, so Draco decided to head out and see who else he could find.  He passed Longbottom, who appeared to be looking for his toad. At least some people never change. He nodded in greeting at a few people, some of which gave him suspicious glares back. He hadn't even started school and already people seemed to have an opinion on him. Creating a good reputation might be harder than he thought.

 

Eventually he came across Potter's compartment. He was sat with Weasley. He wondered whether to go in or not. This was where everything went wrong last time. It only seemed right that he go in and do a better job this time. He pushed open the door, knocking on the inside of it as he passed.

"Harry! Good to see you!"

"Er… hi Draco!" Potter replied, only to turn to Weasley and see him scowling. "This is Ron Weasley by the way. Ron this is Draco…"

"Malfoy," Weasley spat out before Potter had a chance to say it.

"Nice to meet you," Draco said to Ron, putting on his best smile and holding out a hand, which Weasley ignored. "Do you mind if I join you two for a bit?"

"Yes," Weasley scowled at the same time as Potter said "no". Draco decided to accept Potter's answer and sat himself down.

"So, are you looking forwards to Hogwarts?" Draco asked. He realised a second after that this was the same question as he'd asked Potter last time he saw him, but hey, it was a good neutral conversation starter.

"I know who you are _Malfoy_ ,"  Weasley announced, ignoring Draco's question altogether.

"Yes, I'd gathered that," he replied, trying to keep his tone as cordial as possible.

"I know all about your family. About your _Deatheater father_."

"I think you'll find it was concluded that he was under the Imperius curse."

"Yeah right! How much did he bribe the Wizengamot for them to conclude that."

"You're welcome to try ask him if you think that was the case and you want to know. But how about we talk about something else other than my father? My name is Draco, not Lucius after all."

"Hmph," was all Weasley replied, which Draco considered to be somewhat of a success.

 

Conveniently, they were interrupted at this point by the arrival of the trolley witch. Potter's eyes looked to bug at all the food and sweets, and he quickly set about purchasing what seemed to be half the trolley. Draco shrugged and bought some more treats to join the already quite large pile on the seat between them.

"Looks like we've got a fine picnic here!" Draco announced. Weasley muttered something about his mother having packed him sandwiches.

"Well, we've got plenty of food here for three people. I'm sure Harry won't mind if you have some too, will you?"

"No. Help yourself," Potter agreed. Weasley eyed Draco suspiciously, but helped himself to a pumpkin pasty.

"What kind of sandwiches do you have?" Potter asked him. Weasley took a sandwich bag out of his pocket and peeped inside. His face turned down.

"Corned beef. Urgh. Mum knows I hate corned beef."

"I quite like corned beef," Potter replied (Draco had to school his face to avoid it matching Weasley's grimace), "If you want, I'll eat them, and you can have more of this stuff instead?" Weasley must have really hated corned beef, judging by how quickly he threw the sandwiches at Potter and dived on the food pile, as if he was wanting to claim a helping before the offer was rescinded.

 

The atmosphere in the compartment seemed less tense once they were all eating away. Draco was surprised by how much food Weasley managed to put away; no wonder the boy shot up like a weed over their time at Hogwarts.

 

After they had eaten, the conversation turned to magic spells. It turned out Potter hadn't tried using his wand yet (though of course, he would have been caught out by the trace if he had done, considering that he lived with muggles). Draco muttered non-commitedly about having tried out a few basic spells (in truth, he'd practiced NEWT level spells, being pleasantly pleased with the performance of his new wand). Weasley claimed he'd been taught a spell by his older brothers. He brought out his rat from his pocket and started to mumble a questionably valid spell. However, Draco was more distracted by the rat itself. Something in the back of his mind dredged up a rumour that Pettigrew spent years hiding as Weasley's pet rat. He stared at the rat. Surely that can't have been right? He knew Pettigrew was a rat animagus, but he hadn't really seen him in his animagus form. But if it was even a possibility that the voice in his mind was right, then it was something he needed to look into. Pettigrew had been partly responsible for resurrecting the Dark Lord. If he could get rid of him before he got the chance to do that, then that would be fantastic news for Draco's mission.

 

On the other hand, if he attacked Weasley's rat right now, it would probably destroy all the good will he'd managed to create. He'd have to leave it for now. From what he recalled, even if the rat was Pettigrew, he wouldn't be going anywhere for a fair while. He had time to come up with a proper plan.

 

He was just starting to brainstorm ideas when he was distracted from his thoughts by Granger barging into the compartment. She proceeded to insult Weasley's spell and went straight into demonstrating her own spell, fixing Harry's glasses (which Draco realised he should have thought to do himself), talking a mile a minute and barely pausing for air. Again, it was nice to see that some people hadn't changed. Whereas once he would have found it really irritating, and had something nasty to say about her, he actually found it quite endearing in an innocent nostalgic kind of way. Though to be fair, considering that he was likely to have to put up with her monologuing a lot over the next few years, the novelty was probably going to wear off soon. Because that was the thing, if he was going to befriend Potter, he'd probably have to befriend Granger and Weasley too. He had to admit that Granger probably played an important role in Potter's hijinks first time round, with her seemingly encyclopaedic knowledge of just about everything. He probably shouldn't try and edge her out. And even though he couldn't exactly see what the purpose of Weasley was, surely he came in useful sometimes too. There must have been a reason Potter kept him around all those years.

 

Draco took the chance to introduce himself when Granger finally paused for a second.

"So are you starting at Hogwarts too? It's nice to meet you. I'm Draco by the way, and this is Harry and Ron."

"Wait, are you Harry Potter!?" she asked, leaning in to try and stare at Harry's forehead. He tried to brush down his fringe self-consciously.

"Erm, yeah…"

"I've read all about you!" She looked like she wanted to interrogate Potter further, so Draco thought he should intervene.

"I'm sorry, but I didn't catch your name…"

"Hermione. Hermione Granger."

"Well, it's nice to meet you Hermione. You looking forwards to going to Hogwarts?"

"Oh yes. I didn't know I was a witch until Professor McGonagoll came and told me, but I've read all about Hogwarts in 'Hogwarts a History' and it sounds fascinating…" She continued to rave about everything she'd read whilst Draco occasionally nodded, and Potter and Weasley appeared to nearly fall asleep. Eventually she cut herself off.

"Anyway, I came in because Neville's lost his toad. I don't suppose you've seen it?"

"No, sorry, but we'll keep an eye out." With that she headed off.

 

Draco excused himself soon after as well. He thought he probably should do a bit more networking, and he'd made a good start with Potter. He could continue making progress later.


	4. Chapter 4

Draco ended up in a boat across the lake with Zabini and Nott. He'd met Nott a few times throughout his childhood, but hadn't met Zabini until they started at Hogwarts together. They exchanged a brief greeting but spent most of the journey in silence. Draco marvelled at how beautiful Hogwarts looked from the boats. Why didn't they travel like this every year? It was much nicer than carriages pulled by the creepy thestrals. He was slightly curious though whether he would be able to see the thestrals. Would it count as him having seen death, if it was before he travelled back in time?

 

McGonagall made them all wait outside the Great Hall. People were chatting about the sorting. He heard Weasley saying that he'd heard they'd have to fight a troll. Draco chuckled slightly to himself. Didn't Weasley and Potter end up fighting a troll at one point that year? But as they continued to wait, Draco faced a question he'd been trying to avoid. What house would he end up in? His attempts to befriend Potter would work out best if he was in Gryffindor with him. But he didn't even want to imagine what his parents would say if he landed himself in Gryffindor. Based on the traditional Slytherin-Gryffindor hatred, being sorted into Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff might be some sort of compromise. But Draco really couldn't see himself as a Hufflepuff, and he wasn't really much of a Ravenclaw either. He was going to have to have a long word with the sorting hat.

 

After what seemed like forever, they were finally led into the hall. He saw more ghosts at the staff table; Dumbledore, Snape; as well as the literal ghosts floating around the room. The sorting seemed to be going exactly as it went before; no surprise people ending up in a new house. Finally it was his go. He recalled his original sorting; the sorting hat had barely touched his head before it declared him a Slytherin. This time it sat in silence for a few seconds.

"So, you're a time traveller are you? And unsure between Gryffindor and Slytherin? I agree, you're not the right fit for Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. It does sound quite brave and courageous, travelling back in time to try and save people."

"Foolish more likely."

"Maybe. But it's an important task nevertheless. I want to make sure I perform my small role in the mission to the best of my ability. We need to place you in the house that would best support your success."

"But which house is that?"

"That is the question. It sounds like you're right that it would be helpful for you to be in the same house as Harry Potter. But of course, I haven't sorted him yet."

"Potter's a Gryffindor through and through."

"I haven't had chance to decide that yet. Maybe he is. Maybe I'll decide he should be a Slytherin."

"Are you offering to put him in Slytherin for me?"

"Of course I'm not. Nobody can decide what house someone else should be in. That includes your parents."

"But how am I going to focus on trying to change everything, if I'm busy fighting with my parents all the time?"

"That is true."

 

"You shouldn't put Potter in Slytherin," Draco told the hat after a short while of silence. "He belongs in Gryffindor. If he ends up in Slytherin, it'll change everything, and probably not for the better. And I'll have even less idea on how to help him."

"And what about you?"

"I'll trust you to make the right decision."

"Thank you. I hope I do. I get the feeling you'll be a credit to whichever house you end up in. You can be a good man, Draco Malfoy. Don't let the mistakes of your past drag you down. I believe that maybe you can help fix the future."  It paused, then shouted out loud: "SLYTHERIN!"

 

The Slytherin table gave him a polite round of applause, but he seemed to be getting some funny looks, probably because of how long he was under the hat. It was hard to estimate the passage of time whilst under it, but he knew he'd been talking to it for a fair while. They probably thought he was a hat stall (which technically, he was really).

 

Potter seemed to take quite a while to be sorted, whilst Draco watched on apprehensively. As much as it would make things easier for Draco if he ended up joining him in Slytherin, he knew Potter needed to end up in Gryffindor. Potter had been vilified enough over the years; when everyone thought he was the Heir of Slytherin, when almost no one believed him that the Dark Lord had risen. It would be a hundred times worse for him if he was a Slytherin to boot. Draco gave Potter a round of applause when the hat finally declared him a Gryffindor, earning some weird looks from his fellow Slytherins, but hey, they'd have to get used to him befriending Potter.

 

At one point during the feast, Draco noticed Snape staring at him with a questioning look. Draco looked back, making sure to focus on his chin rather than his eyes. After all, the man was a Legilimens. In fact, he should try to avoid making eye contact with both him and Dumbledore. Both men were on the same side, but he didn't trust them to not interfere, if they managed to discover what he knew.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to work on the fic as much now, because I've had some unfortunate developments in real life, so might not have as much time. But I'm going to try and keep up writing. (But also, I've realised at this point, I really need to reread Philosopher's Stone again so I can check some details before I write the next bit).


	5. Chapter 5

 

It was weird, waking up again back in the Slytherin dormitory. Draco had ended back up with the same bed even; not a deliberate choice but instead the one he'd been left (he had dawdled on his way out of the hall, hoping to catch a word with Potter, but he'd been whisked away by the Gryffindor prefects too quickly).

 

They got their timetables over breakfast. Once he'd finished eating, Draco headed over to the Gryffindor table to chat with Potter and compare timetables. Turns out they only had potions together. Maybe Draco should have insisted on being a Gryffindor.

"I've got Transfiguration and Defence Against the Dark Arts today, and you've got Herbology and History of Magic, and we both have Charms, though I've got it in the morning, and you have it in the afternoon," he pointed out to Harry. "Do you want to meet up in the library after class? We could discuss the classes we've each had, that way we'll know what to expect when we have them."

"Oh, ok. Sure."

 

Plans made, Draco headed back to the Slytherin table.

"What were you doing, talking to Gryffindors?" Nott asked, suspiciously.

"What, we can only talk to people from one house? That doesn't sound very cunning, ignoring three quarters of the school."

"But, Gryffindors..."

"Were you not watching when Potter got sorted into Gryffindor?" With that, Draco swept out of the room, deciding leaving with the final word gave the right impression he was trying to foster.

 

Transfiguration was actually harder than he expected. Draco wouldn't be surprised if he hadn't bothered trying to turn a matchstick into a needle since this class last time around. Maybe for the best; McGonagall seemed rather impressed that he managed it by the end of the lesson at all (if her look of rather repressed admiration was anything to go by), and Draco didn't want to make a name for himself as to much of a prodigy. It would be quite fun to beat Granger at everything, but probably wouldn't be great for their chances at friendship.

 

He'd forgotten how much Quirrell's turban smelt of garlic. And how annoying his stutter was. If only he could remember more of what went down between him and Potter at the end of the year, he might be able to get rid of him sooner (though, to be fair, they might just replace him with Lockhart earlier, which would hardly be an improvement).

 

Potter had brought Weasley along to the library with him, and he sat there silently scowling at Draco. Granger kept passing by behind them, seemingly picking up half the books in the library. Weasley seemed to be scowling at her too, to Draco's surprise. He'd seen the two bickering a lot over the years (how Potter put up with that UST all those years was beyond him), but he was surprised to see it seemed to be all hate and no love. He decided to risk asking about it.

 

"You don't like Granger?"

"Have you seen her? She's such a stuck-up, teacher's pet, goody-goody two shoes! What, don't say you like her Malfoy, she's muggleborn after all. I would have thought you'd be wanting to kill her or something."

"Look, I think you and I have our wires crossed. I don't know who you think I am, but trust me, I'm not him."

"What, you're not just a miniature version of your daddy?"

"No."

"But you're not denying that your father hates muggleborns."

"I wouldn't say hates…"

"But he doesn't like them…"

"Well… no…" This was a delicate moment. One that could make or break Draco's whole mission. He needed to make sure he didn't just get written off by Potter and Weasley as a blood purist. But he couldn't go too far the other way. He needed to make sure he didn't alienate his parents, he didn't alienate the whole of Slytherin (he was going to have to live there for the next seven years after all). He needed to use all of his cunning. The hat deemed to put him Slytherin again. He must have it.

"Look, the situation is complicated, I know. But we're going to be here for seven years. I don't want to start out by alienating myself from people."

"You mean you want to pretend, to get on everyone's good sides. How very Slytherin."

"If I was a Hufflepuff, you might just say I was being friendly."

"But you're not a Hufflepuff."

"No, I'm not."

 

"I'm not saying I believe you about this whole 'not wanting to alienate anyone' crap, but even if I did, explain to me why you keep trying to hang around Harry?" Weasley asked after a minute or two of silence  
"I could ask the same of you. Harry, do you mind the two of us wanting to be friends with you?"

"Er… no…" Potter muttered, before Weasley interjected again.

"Don't change the subject Malfoy. I know you won't admit it, but we all know full well that your father supported You Know Who. Don't claim that you trying to befriend the Boy Who Lived isn't somehow connected."

"Look, ok, yes, Harry will be an important person to be on the good side of. Don't look at me like that Potter, like it or not, you're a powerful force in our world. Maybe one day you'll learn to use that to your advantage. Because trust me, there's many people out there who will like to use you. Dumbledore, the Ministry… I could help you learn how not to let people walk all over you. But trust me, please, that is not the only reason I want to be friends with you. I like you. I'd want to be friends with you whether you were the Chosen One or not." ["Chosen One?" Harry asked quietly, but Draco didn't hear him]. "You just seem like a nice person to be friends with." Draco wasn't sure if he meant any of that, or whether he was talking out of his ass, but by the considering look on Potter's face, it looked like he might have bought it.

 

"Ok," Potter said eventually. "Friends sounds good."

"But don't think I'm not watching you Malfoy…" Weasley added, "If you try and betray us, I'll make you pay."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't too sure how to write this chapter, but felt this was a discussion the characters needed to have.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So some of the dialogue in this chapter is quoted from the book.

So Draco met up with Potter (and Weasley) in the library every day after class that week. It wasn't ideal; maybe this was another reason Draco hadn't bothered befriending anyone from a different house last time around. He'd prefer to be meeting in a nice cosy common room, but of course that wasn't an option. Maybe he'd be able to find a nice quiet classroom somewhere for them to meet. He'd have to have a look around/think. But for now the library would have to do. They'd even started playing chess (as long as they kept quiet Pince only gave them dirty looks but didn't kick them out). Turns out Potter had never played, so Draco and Weasley were teaching him. It actually seemed to be working as bonding; Weasley still didn't seem to trust Draco, but generally kept himself from making any comments at his expense. They were even on a first-name basis (something Draco kept having to remind himself: "'Ron'. I must call him 'Ron', not 'Weasley'").

 

"So we've got double Potions together tomorrow morning," he commented whilst waiting for Potter to make his move (as Weasley put his hand in the way, to prevent Potter from moving the Bishop that was protecting the Queen from Draco's Knight).

"With Snape right? What's he like? He's your Head of House isn't he? He looked pretty angry at the sorting."

"Yeah. He's… he can be pretty strict, I've heard. I'll warn you now, apparently he doesn't like other houses much, particularly Gryffindors. I'd recommend that if you haven't already, you read the textbook before the class."

"Do homework before the class!?" Weasley asked, outraged, "Who do you think I am, Granger?"

"Well, don't say I didn't warn you…"

 

That evening, Draco thought over his memories of their potion classes, and his advice for Potter and Weasley. It probably wouldn't help much, Snape always seemed to hate Potter, but at least he tried. He had the feeling there was something else to the animosity between Snape and Potter. Hadn't he gone to school with his parents or something? Well, there wasn't much Draco could do about that.

 

He realised that Snape had never liked Granger either, and she always studied hard for his class. Maybe it was because she was friends with Potter. Although her over-enthusiastic know-it-all nature probably didn't help either. Actually, maybe he should warn her before class not to try too hard. Snape was hardly likely to give her Housepoints anyway.

 

He went over to the Gryffindor table after breakfast, to walk down to the dungeons with Potter and Weasley. Crabbe and Goyle followed him over too, like lost puppies, which wasn't ideal.

"You guys ready?" he asked the two Gryffindors. Weasley just stared over his shoulder at his two shadows. "Oh, forgive me. Have you met? This is Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, two of my fellow Slytherins. Crabbe, Goyle, this is Harry Potter and Ron Weasley." Crabbe and Goyle grunted in greeting, Weasley scowled, and Potter muttered a half-hearted hello. Undismayed, Draco continued, "Anyhow come on, we best get going. We don't want to be late to class, do we?" He set off walking, with Potter coming to walk at his side (and Weasley following at Potter's side), and Crabbe and Goyle falling in behind them.

 

There were a few people already waiting outside the classroom when they got there, including Granger. Should he try and have a quiet word? He doubted she'd listen. As they filed in, he decided to try.

"Granger, listen. Don't take this the wrong way, but if Snape ignores you, don't try too hard to answer his questions. He won't appreciate you, and he won't give you points for it."

"What do you mean?"

 

He didn't have chance to answer, because Snape instructed them to hurry up and sit down, so he went to go join Potter and Weasley at a bench in the middle of the room. He sighed internally with frustration when Longbottom sat down next to him. He wasn't going to be top of the class in potions at least, if he had Longbottom for a partner.

 

Snape started the register, pausing when he got to Potter.

"Ah, yes, Harry Potter. Our new celebrity." Draco sighed. He got the feeling he was not going to be able to make Snape and Potter get on. Snape finished the register and went straight into a monologue.

"… I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death- if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach." Draco had nearly forgotten how much of a melodramatic motherfucker Snape could be at times. But Snape wasn't done. "Potter! What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" Draco groaned, Granger waved her arm in the air, and Potter and Weasley just looked lost. Draco wasn't particularly surprised. He knew it was Draught of Living Death, but it almost certainly wasn't covered in the first chapters of the first year textbook, if the book covered it at all.

"I don't know, sir," Harry replied after a brief awkward silence.

"Tut, tut- fame clearly isn’t everything. Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?" Again, Potter looked clueless, and Granger waved her hand in the air.

"I don't know, sir."

"Though you wouldn't open a book before coming, eh, Potter?" Snape was clearly getting a kick out of this. "What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?" Hermione actually stood up this time. But Draco was more focussed on the triumphant look that came across Potter's face.

"They're the same thing!"

"Oh, so you do actually own a textbook, do you? Yes, they're the same thing, which also goes by the name of aconite. For your information, asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death and a bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat, which will save you from most poisons. Well, why aren't you all copying that down?" He turned to Granger whilst the class started rummaging for quills and parchment, "And you, when you're in class, you should stay in your seat unless you're brewing or I tell you to stand." Draco thought Snape was done, but he had one more thing to add: "And a point will be taken from Gryffindor house for your ignorance, Potter."

 

After that, Snape set them brewing a boil cure potion. He swept around the classroom, criticising almost everyone. He stopped at Draco's bench, causing Longbottom to quiver and drop his dried nettles. He didn’t say anything to Draco, just stared at him pensively. Draco remembered to not meet his eyes. Eventually he moved on to insult Potter and Weasley's potion. Draco turned back to his own potion just in time to stop Longbottom from turning it into a fiery disaster.

 

The rest of the class passed pretty much event free. Many of the finished potions looked pretty shoddy, but nothing was on fire and no one was in the hospital wing, so Draco figured that was a success.

 

"What was that?" Potter asked as they walked out of the class. "You said he didn't like Gryffindors, but that went beyond dislike! He seems to hate me! He looked like he hated me before I was even sorted!"

"I'm sorry about that. I didn’t think he'd be that bad."

"What did I do?"

"I don’t think it's anything you've done. Look, don't mention it to anyone, particularly not him, but I think I heard Snape went to school with your parents. That he and your dad really hated each other or something."

"He's being like that because he had some kind of beef with my dad!?"

"Maybe. It's probably more complicated than that. I don't know. But I don't think you'll be able to get him to like you. The best you can do is keep your head down and try and not antagonise him."

"Well, that sucks."

"Hey, at least you have tea with Hagrid to look forward to this afternoon," Weasley tried to cheer him up.

"You're off to Hagrid's?"

"Yeah, he sent me a letter this morning asking if I wanted to visit in my free this afternoon. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you came too?" ("I think he would…" thought Draco).

"Thanks, but I have charms this afternoon. You two enjoy yourselves though. You can tell me about it in the library later."


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One thing I will say, at this point in the story, I don't necessarily think Draco Malfoy is a good person; he's a complicated person trying to act like a good person. He's matured somewhat since his school days, and has certainly learned to keep his temper, but I think he's not even sure anymore what's an act and what he actually believes.
> 
> Also: formatting sucks. Trying to make the list for this copy across right was a right pain

As Draco was waiting for Potter and Weasley in the library, he was reminded that he was meant to be trying to find somewhere new for them to meet. He should write himself a to-do list.

 

> 1. ~~ _Befriend Potter_ ~~_/ [Technically it was probably pointless adding something he'd already done to a to-do list, but it made him feel better if he was able to tick something off].
> 
> 2. _Find somewhere to meet up_
> 
> 3 _. Save everyone_

What else?

 

> 4. _Teach Potter about quality tailoring_
> 
> 5\. _Deal with Weasley's rat_ [shit, he needed to remember to do that].
> 
> 6. _Find out what the whole deal with Quirrell was_
> 
> 7\. _Not start a war with my parents_ [he thought he should write that down as a reminder].

 

That seemed enough to be getting on with. Potter and Weasley turned up then, anyway, so Draco quickly put the list away in his bag.

 

"How was Hagrid's?"

"Yeah, it was ok."

"Except for the rock cakes…" muttered Weasley.

"What did you talk about?"

"Oh, not much. Lessons and stuff."

"He said he didn't think that Snape hated Harry more than he hated anyone else," Weasley added.

"But did you see how shifty he looked when he said that!?" Potter countered.

"What else did he have to say?"

"Well… he wasn't keen when I said I was friends with you…" Potter reluctantly admitted. So, Hagrid hated Draco even before Draco did anything, like call for that Hippogriff to be executed after it savaged him. He wasn't all that surprised.

"What did he say?"

"Oh, just the same arguments I've made," Weasley smirked, "So if my threats aren't sufficient to prevent you from betraying us, I think Hagrid will go after you too if you hurt Harry. Have you seen the size of him? I wouldn't say much for your chances against him."

"It's a good thing I'm not going to betray Harry then, isn't it?"

 

They sat in silence for a while, working on some of their homework.

"Oh!" Potter suddenly exclaimed, "There was one thing we learnt I forgot to tell you. There was a break-in at Gringotts the day I saw you in Diagon Alley."

"Yes, I know. That's old news. Wait, you're not saying it was Hagrid, are you?"

"No! Well, I think he did empty the vault, but he was sent to do it by Dumbledore."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, when Hagrid took me to Gringotts, he went to collect a package from a high-security Gringotts vault for Dumbledore. Said it was top secret. When I saw the newspaper article in his hut and commented on it, Hagrid started acting really suspicious. So I think it was that vault that was robbed; the newspaper said it had been emptied earlier, and I think it was emptied by Hagrid."

"What do you think it was?"

"I don't know. It was about this big." Potter held his hands about a palms-width apart.

 

Draco was intrigued. Could this link in somehow to whatever Potter got up to at the end of the year. Or did Potter spend all his time just finding 'mysteries' everywhere? He added it to his list that evening anyway.

 

> 8\. _Find out about mysterious package_

 

Over the weekend, posters were put up in the common rooms about first year flying lessons starting on Thursday. Weasley and Potter were very excited about them when Draco met them by the lake on Saturday afternoon.

"I'm looking forward to putting you in your place, Malfoy," Weasley crowed, "Fancy putting money on who'll be the better flier?"

"Oh, I think you'd lose that bet Weasley..."

"Harry, who would you bet on, me or Malfoy?"

"How do you know Harry doesn't want to bet on himself?"

"Oh, well, I've never been on a broom before..."

"I have the feeling that you'll be a natural though."

 

Because as much as it would have once hurt Draco to admit it, Potter really was a natural on a broom. He hoped right now he'd be the better flier, considering all the years of experience he had over him. It'd be a blow for his ego if he was outclassed by a complete amateur.

 

He was thinking about their first, first flying lesson as he tried to get to sleep that evening. About how he'd goaded Potter to go flying after some tat of Longbottom's. It had been pretty funny at the time, especially seeing Potter's face when he was matched off by McGonagall. But pranks like that didn't really fit with the reputation he was trying to create this time. He allowed himself to smirk at Potter's panic once more. Wait! Wasn't that how Potter found himself on the quidditch team!? If Draco didn't goad him, it wouldn't happen. He spent quite a while trying to think of ways around the problem when he came to a second realisation. Why was he doing this? Gryffindor winning the quidditch cup was almost certainly not crucial to the defeating of the Dark Lord. Why did it matter if Harry got on the team or not? In fact, based on the obscene number of times Potter managed to land himself in the hospital wing after playing quidditch, Draco would probably be doing him a favour if he stopped him getting on the team. Problem solved, Draco dropped off happily to sleep.

 

When Draco headed across to the Gryffindor table on Thursday morning, Granger was spewing tips on flying she'd picked up from one book or another. Based on what he could recall of her skill on a broomstick, they can't have been good for much. Longbottom had received his piece of tat in the post; apparently it was a remembrall. Draco got the logic Longbottom's gran had been going with when she sent him it, but he never saw the point to rembembralls himself. What was the point of it telling you you've forgotten something, when it didn't tell you what? Plus, with an owner like Longbottom, it would probably be glowing constantly.

 

The Slytherins arrived at the grounds for the flying lesson before the Gryffindors, whose previous class must have run late. When they finally arrived, Potter and Weasley dashed over to near where Draco was stood, sandwiched between Crabbe and Goyle. Madam Hooch arrived and had them summon their broomsticks to their hands (something Draco hadn't bothered doing in years; quite frankly you looked ridiculous shouting "up!" at a broom). She then went round correcting grips (thankfully this time she had no problems with how Draco held his broom). Just as she was about to let them actually fly, Longbottom jumped the gun taking off chaotically, shooting straight up then falling off sideways. Even though Draco had seen it before, and seen many worse broom accidents over the years, he still winced as Longbottom collided with the ground (actually, he was pretty sure first time round he had laughed). Hooch took him away to the infirmary, and Draco picked the remembrall off the ground, quietly passing it to Potter so he could return it to Longbottom later.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's some direct quotes from the books again.
> 
> Also, I don't spend long editing this, so if you spot any mistakes, let me know. 
> 
> If anyone can tell me how to get it to keep my formatting (e.g. italics), then that would be really helpful. It's there when I first paste it (as rich text), but disappears when I click on preview).

During his free-time (which was quite abundant, as he didn't need to study, and was half-assing his homework so not to come across as too much of a prodigy), Draco started trying to find an empty classroom or somewhere for Potter, Weasley and him to meet. He found one that didn't look too bad, but was quickly discovered by Filch and shooed out of there, so he put it down as a bust.

 

He was actually starting to- Merlin forbid- enjoy his time spent in Potter and Weasley's company. Sometimes it was apparent they were just children, and they acted like it, but on the whole, they were quite good _friends_ (urgh). He and Weasley had started trying to explain quidditch to Potter, on top of their attempts to teach him to play chess (Draco figured Potter was safe enough taking an interest in the sport, just not playing it).

 

He had also started thinking about what to do about the rat. He should probably involve a teacher somehow. McGonagall or Snape seemed the best candidates. Maybe both to be safe.

 

On the morning of Halloween, Draco called at the Gryffindor table after breakfast (as he was frequently in the habit of doing).

"Morning. You're looking happy. I thought you might not be today, with you know…"

"With what?" asked Potter, confused.

"Er, you know, your parents…"

"My parents? What?"

"With today being the anniversary of their deaths."

 

_Oh shit. He didn't know. He didn't know it was today. Didn't anyone tell him? Has Potter seriously not read any of the books about himself?_

 

"…today's the anniversary of their deaths?"

"Yes. I'm sorry, I thought you knew…"

"No."

"I'm sorry. I'll… I'll leave you in peace." Draco was about to run away, when something inside himself said he needed to say something more. "If you want to talk, or anything, you can come find me."

 

Balls. That was a right screw-up. Hopefully Potter wouldn't hold it against him. Maybe he'd be grateful to Draco for telling him?

 

He was glad to see Potter seemed fine at the Halloween feast that evening, if the way he was eyeing the food was anything to go by (he was even giving Weasley a run for his money). Draco sighed, relieved, and was just helping himself to a chicken leg when Quirrell came sprinting into the hall manically.

"Troll- in the dungeons- thought you ought to know."

 

" _Motherfucker…_ " thought Draco to himself as the bloody bastard sank to the floor. This. Couldn't he have at least waited until the end of the feast? Draco had been quite looking forward to it. But no, instead they were all being escorted out of the hall by the prefects before they'd had chance to eat one bite.

 

Draco would be griping about being sent to their common room in the dungeons, you know, where the troll happened to be, except this time, it might be in his favour. Since history was repeating, Potter and Weasley were surely heading to try and fight the troll for some idiotic reason. Sure enough, he spotted them darting away from their house, through a crowd of Hufflepuffs, and into a side corridor. He sighed then snuck after them.

 

Weasley all but screeched when he caught them up.

"It's just me. Where are you two going? I think you'll find your common room is in a nice troll-free part of the castle."

"Hermione!" Potter exclaimed, as if that was an answer. Draco just raised an eyebrow. "She doesn't know there's a troll! Parvati said she was crying in the bathroom down here," Potter added.

"Why?"

"Erm… well, Ron kind of shouted at her in charms…" Draco raised both his eyebrows at Weasley, as if to say " _Really Weasley?_ "

"Can you not save the lecture for later!?" Weasley exclaimed, "Come on, we need to go find her!"

 

" _Quite possibly the first intelligent thing he's said…"_ Draco thought.

 

They continued on in the direction of the bathroom. Before they got there, they were greeted by a horrible stench. Quickly followed by a low grunting and the shuffling footfalls of gigantic feet.

 

"Oh shit!"

 

They watched as the troll stomped its way along the corridor, dragging along a massive wooden club. It stopped next to a doorway, peered inside, then slouched its way through the door.

 

"The key's in the lock, we could lock it in," Potter suggested.

"Are you an idiot?" Draco exclaimed, "I thought we were here to rescue Granger, not feed her to a troll?!"

"That's the girls bathroom?" Weasley asked. Sure enough, the question was answered by a high pitched scream from within.

"Come on!" Draco yelled, pulling the door open and diving in.

 

Granger was cowering against the far wall, as the troll advanced on her, knocking sinks off the wall. The old Draco would have killed to be able to watch this. But somehow, he was the designated hero now, so needed to think of something, and quick. Weasley and Potter opted for shouting at it, and lobbing bits of broken plumbing. Honestly. Did they even know they were wizards?

 

Draco tried sending a flurry of offensive spells at the troll, but its thick hide seemed to block all of them. And all Potter and Weasley had achieved was pissing it off. It began charging towards Weasley. As if it couldn't get any worse, Potter decided it would be a good idea to throw himself onto the troll and stick his wand up his nostril. At least he'd remembered he had a wand…

 

The big ugly brute didn't like that. It twisted and flailed, nearly bucking Potter off its back. Draco was still racking his brain, trying to think of what spell might penetrate the troll's hide (keeping in mind that he'd better avoid killing the Chosen One with a stray spell), when he heard Weasley shouting "Wingardium Leviosa!" Whether by skill, fluke, or the grace of Merlin, the troll's club flew up into the air, landing on its owner's head and knocking it out.

"Is it- dead?" Granger asked.

"I doubt it," Draco replied, "But let's not stick around long enough to find out." He pulled her to her feet, turning around to find Potter extracting his wand from the troll's nose.

"Urgh- troll bogies."

"That's what you get for sticking your wand up a troll's nose. You really need to let me talk to you about proper wand care some time. But come on, let's go!"

 

But before they managed to get to the door, it was slammed open, and McGonagall, Snape and Quirrell came charging into the room. Just great.

 

Quirrell started pansying out again, Snape inspected the troll, and McGonagall glared at them with a death-stare that was impressive even for her.

"What on Earth were you thinking of? You’re lucky you weren't killed. Why aren't you in your dormitories?" Snape gave Potter a swift, piercing look, then looked at Draco with his pensive, confused look again. Draco heard Granger getting ready to say something, and thought he should speak first. He didn't put much stock in her ability to lie. Or spin a good version of the truth.

"I came across Potter and Weasley sneaking in this direction, because they knew Granger was down here and thought they should warn her about the troll. I thought I should come, in the hope we'd avoid trouble if there was at least one person present who wasn't a foolhardy Gryffindor. But alas, the troll found the bathroom and Granger before we did. But look at that! We managed to defeat the troll, save Granger, and get away with our lives intact. I call that a success. Any questions? Because I for one would like to leave. That troll might wake up any minute. We are only first years after all."

 

Everyone just stood there gobsmacked.

"I'll take that as a no. I'll be heading to my common room then. Good evening professors. Harry. Ron. Granger."

 

Draco was nearly outside the Slytherin common room when Snape came up behind him.

"Malfoy. A word." He indicated towards his study. Draco sighed and followed him.

 

"I must say Malfoy, I was surprised to see you in that bathroom, trying to help a bunch of Gryffindors."

"Potter and Weasley are my friends. And are you trying to suggest that I should have left Granger to get mauled by a troll?"

"Nothing of the sort. But I am surprised that you seem to have chosen Potter and Weasley to be your friends, of all people. What does your father think of this?"

"I'm sure my father is glad I'm making friends."

"Hmph," Snape replied, pulling a face suggesting he highly doubted that.

"Was that all, professor?"

 

Snape tried very hard to meet Draco's eyes. Draco managed to avoid it, but he really needed to work on his occlumency, if this was going to be an ongoing thing. A few people had tried to teach him during the war, but it hadn't really worked (not surprising, considering the teaching skills of people like his aunt Bellatrix left a lot to be desired). Snape sighed exasperatedly, giving up on reading his mind for the time being.

 

"Five points for Slytherin. I have no doubt McGonagall will be giving out points to her idiots for that ridiculous display, and so I'd better do the same. But I'd better not catch you in any similar situations in future. I have a very low tolerance for foolhardy Gryffindor-ish antics like that. Now get to the common room, before I decide to assign you a detention."

 

He didn't need to ask twice. Draco got himself out of there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't sure how to write this chapter. I hope you like the version I went with. You may notice that they don't come across Snape on the way to the bathroom- I assumed they missed him because Draco arriving mislaid them. Also, there's the odd other difference to the books starting to occur because of the differing actions of Draco.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, sorry this has taken a while, I've been busy. Plus I decided I didn't like the idea I had for the second half of the chapter, so I deleted it. It might be a couple of weeks before the next chapter's up.

Potter and Weasley seemed to be happily chatting with Granger when Draco arrived at breakfast the next morning. That made a change. On spotting Draco, Granger looked like she wanted to draw him into the conversation. Probably very loudly. _Oh Merlin, what rumours were already flying around Gryffindor about last night?_ He shot them a look to say _not here_. Miraculously Potter seemed to pick up on it.

"See you later?" he asked quietly when Draco passed. Draco nodded, relieved. This whole befriend-Potter-and-his-cronies-but-don't-get-too-much-of-a-negative-reputation-in-Slytherin thing was hard.

 

Sure enough, Granger was sat with Potter and Weasley at their table in the library when Draco arrived that afternoon.

"So all it took for you guys to make friends was a troll attack?" he quipped. Granger's face fell. " _Ah shit, she thinks I don't approve…_ " he thought. " _Best make another joke and hopefully she'll pick up on it…"_

"Don't let Dumbledore know, he might decide to change the sorting hat for a pack of trolls! I'm sure he'd be interested in a new method to get students to bond." Weasley seemed to mutter about having said something like that, but Potter and Granger laughed, so Draco counted that as a win. "Are you all ok after last night? Did McGonagall give you points, like Snape said she would?"

"When did he say that?" Weasley asked, speaking over the top of Potter and Granger, who were both trying to answer Draco's questions.

"Oh, he cornered me on the way back to the common room. Wanted to know what I was doing, getting up to something so _Gryffindor-ish_ ".

"What did you tell him?"

"Pretty much a shorter version of what I'd already said."

"And you didn't get in trouble?"

"Well, he threatened to throw me in detention, but no. I think I intrigue him, being friends with Gryffindors. I'm not who he expected me to be. He's not sure what to make of me yet."

"I'm pretty sure if Snape was my head of house, he'd have thrown me in detention until the end of days," Potter commented.

"Yes well, we've established he doesn't like you." Snape's behaviour towards Harry in potions hadn't improved. In fact, it seemed worse than Draco remembered (maybe because he found it amusing first time round).

 

At this point, Pince strode over and started hushing them, so they had to stop talking.

 

One disadvantage of befriending Granger was that she took Pince's disapproval personally, and wanted to respect the sanctity of the library. Hence Draco found himself sat outside in a courtyard chatting with his three (formally least) favourite Gryffindors. In November. It hadn't snowed yet, but it was still freezing. Granger had whipped up some flames in a jar (something she probably considered the height of anarchy at this point in the timeline), which helped slightly. Of course, Draco had sneakily cast a warming charm on himself before coming out, but he decided he shouldn't let the others know he could do that.

 

They were chatting about the upcoming Slytherin-Gryffindor quidditch match (able to happily banter about it when none of them were actually playing in it), when they spotted Snape come limping across the courtyard. Limping. That seemed a bit suspect. Snape of course honed straight in on Potter, giving him a death glare and deducting five housepoints from Gryffindor "because his uniform was a mess".

 

For the match itself, it took Draco a long time to decide where he should sit. In the end he stuck with sitting with the other Slytherins. Making friends with Gryffindors was one thing, but being seen to actively root against Slytherin was quite another. He could have sat with Potter and cheered for Slytherin, but that probably wouldn't be the cleverest idea when the house he would be pissing off was known for its bravado. Particularly because the Gryffindors seemed to be spoiling for a fight after they were slaughtered in the match; Slytherin had been pulling out a mild lead before their seeker caught the snitch. The Gryffindor team was clearly missing the seeker they didn't know they should have; the one they did have was hopeless.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've posted this chapter from my iPad, so the formatting probably isn't as good as normal.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who's left a comment so far. I welcome constructive criticism; I don't have anyone editing this, so if you do notice any spelling/grammar/plot mistakes, please point them out!

Draco was in two minds on whether to go home for Christmas. On the one hand, Potter wasn't (neither was Weasley), and so this would be a prime opportunity to cement his friendship/ get involved in the hijinks Potter inevitably ended up in. But on the other, he did really like the idea of having a proper family Christmas again. One where he could still pretend to be a naïve kid and have a nice time being spoilt by his parents.

He decided to go home. He had the feeling his parents were already being suspicious of his change in behaviour (from the brief but frequent letters they were exchanging), and not going home would intrigue them further.

It was a nice, and fairly uneventful time on the whole. Draco was waiting for when his father would bring up the elephant in the room; Draco's friendship with certain Gryffindors. It happened three days after he got home. He thought he handled it remarkably well.  
"Well, you did tell me I should try getting on the good side of the Boy-Who-Lived. I did. Plus, it's always important to make a good impression. In the current political climate, it's not always advantageous for one to be a Slytherin. Sure, we have the guile, but some people, like Dumbledore's flunkies, might try and write us off as "dark". If I happen to be friends with the Boy-Who-Lived, plus of course a Weasley, who we all know would be one of the last families someone would call dark, and a muggleborn, then people may think twice before judging me. Best of both worlds. A Slytherin, but getting the benefit of the doubt from Dumbledore's lackies."

His father seemed surprised by Draco's monologue, then amused, and just maybe, proud. He still countered though, questioning his friendship with Granger.  
"But a Mudblood of all people, and from what I hear, an obnoxious one at that?"  
"Sure, I'll admit it, she needs a bit of work. I've started trying to subtly teach her how to be a proper witch. But she has brains. I wouldn't be surprised if she comes top in the year. If things go her way, I wouldn't rule out her working her way up through the Ministry eventually. She's bright, and she's determined. I wouldn't bet against her. She might well end up being the kind of person you want working with you, not against you." Father just grunted non-committedly in reply, which Draco took to mean he'd won the argument. Kind of, anyway. His father was clearly going to step back for now and not interfere with Draco's friendships. Whether or not he actually agreed with him, or just thought he'd watch Draco make his own mistakes, Draco wasn't certain.

Draco spent a fair bit of his spare time practicing his occlumency. There were a few books on the subject in the family library (some of which were in the section that was behind wards his father probably assumed Draco wouldn't be able to get past). The books were helpful slightly, but it was hard for Draco to be certain how much progress he was making when he was working alone. But there wasn't anyone he would be asking for help, so he'd just have to hope for the best.

He arrived back at Hogwarts in the New Year to discover Potter had managed to have a more eventful Christmas than he had. Of course. When had Potter and chaos ever managed to not go hand in hand?  
"Guess what!" Potter exclaimed, when Draco met him, Weasley and Granger in their courtyard (which was even colder now), "I got on the quidditch team!"  
"What!?"  
"Yeah, I know! Ron and I decided to sneak out to have a fly on some of the school brooms" [ _of_ _course_ _they_ _did_ ] "and we were chucking a quaffle around when one of Ron's shots went wide and went flying towards the castle so I went flying after it…"  
"He just drove right after it and caught it just before it hit the walls! I thought he was going to crash, but he pulled out of the dive just in time! It was amazing!" Weasley added.  
"But then McGonagoll came out and started shouting and I thought she was going to expel me but then she said that I should be Gryffindor's new seeker! I had to wait for today for it to be confirmed, because Wood, the Gryffindor captain, was away for the holidays. But I'm on the quidditch team!"

Draco stood with his mouth open. Fate, the motherfucker, had clearly decided Potter was going to be on the team. That didn't really bode well for Draco's mission, if fate found a way around any changes he made. He'd have to keep an eye out, and see if any other changes he made stuck.

It turned out as well as death-defying broomstick stunts, Potter had also been getting up to various night time walk-abouts, including nearly getting caught in the restricted section of the library, and finding a weird magical mirror. Granger had some choice words about all of this.

"I can't believe you! You're lucky you didn't fall off your broom and break your neck! You're lucky you didn't get caught sneaking around and get _expelled_!"  
"Well…" Potter started, pulling a face like he had a big secret and didn't know whether to tell them, "I kind of had something that helped me not get caught…" He looked around to check no one was around to see, then pulled a cloak out of his bag and tossed it over his head. The top half of his body disappeared from view. Draco had a minor mental breakdown.  
"MOTHERFUCKER!!! You had an invisibility cloak! Now everything makes so much more sense! All the sneaking… and knowing… never getting caught… Hogsmede that one time! The mud! Of course! Of course you had a fucking invisibility cloak!" He stopped when he realised the three of them were staring at him like he'd gone mad. _Shit, he'd said too much. He_ _needed to backtrack_. "Sorry," he added, taking a big breath to calm himself down, "I got a bit carried away there. I always wanted an invisibility cloak. Erm… congrats? Who's it from?"  
"I don't know," Potter replied, still looking at him a bit funny. "It didn't say. Just that it used to be my father's and he'd lent it to them."

They did meet up once at night and had a sneak around the castle under the invisibility cloak (Draco had got quite good at sneaking without it, but it was still quite exciting. But once term started, Potter was busy with almost constant quidditch practices, getting ready for his first game, so they thought they should leave it for now so he could try and get some sleep (which, Potter reluctantly admitted, was already a problem, because he was getting weird recurring nightmares).

Balancing his friendship with the Gryffindors and his relationship with the Slytherins continued to be a complex process. Granger started ranting at Draco one afternoon about one of his fellow Slytherins apparently having cursed Longbottom, wanting Draco to do something about it. Draco argued back that he couldn't do anything without risking turning his house against him, and instead suggested she tell Longbottom that he should fight back. He even offered to teach him some curses. Granger just exhaled disapprovingly and went back to her Transfiguration essay.

Potter's new broom arrived a few days before the match. McGonagall had told him when she gave him the quidditch magazines over the holidays so he could owl order it, that he wasn't to open it in the Great Hall, so she didn't get a load of jealous first years asking why they couldn't have brooms. Draco wasn't sure who she was trying to kid; the shape of the parcel was pretty obvious to anyone with intelligence greater than Crabbe or Goyle what it contained. Potter had gone all out and bought a Nimbus 2000. Draco wasn't surprised (firstly because that was what he did last time, and secondly, because it was exactly what Potter would do, in either timeline).

Since this quidditch match was Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff, Draco figured it was acceptable for him to sit with and support Gryffindor this time. Gryffindor had just been pulling ahead with a slight lead when Draco's eye was drawn to Potter, who had been hovering up above most of the action. But he wasn't hovering now. His broom was twitching all over the place. Draco had the faint feeling he'd seen this before. It'd been in the Gryffindor-Slytherin match first time though (which of course Potter hadn't played this time). Clearly Potter had managed to not die last time, but if he did fall from his broom (which was looking quite likely), it was a long way down. He heard a gasp to his left, indicating that Granger had spotted it now too.  
"Snape-look!" she muttered in shock, before stridding off across the stands without another word. Draco wondered if he should follow her, or try to get her to explain, but decided to stay and try to focus on the matter in hand; namely that Potter's broom was trying its hardest to buck him off. The Weasley twins were trying to grab him and pull him onto one of their brooms, but when they got close, the broom would fly even higher to get away from them. Draco racked his brain, trying to think of something he could do to help. If Potter fell, he could probably cast a spell at him to slow his descent, but would it be enough?

Miraculously, Potter's broom seemed to calm all of a sudden, and he took the opportunity to fly it straight to the ground and dismount safely. Draco was quite impressed that the Gryffindor idiot in him hadn't led to him going straight back to looking for the snitch. The rest of the players joined him on the pitch as McGonagall announced from the commentary box (cutting off Jordan's ongoing exclamations that Draco had been zoning out) that the match was to be suspended and continued at a later date. There was a variety of reactions from the crowd.

Draco and Weasley headed down out of the stands, trying to find Potter. Granger came and joined them just before they got to the pitch.  
"Where did you go?" he asked her.  
"Snape was jinxing Harry's broom!" she exclaimed.  
"What!? That doesn't sound right. Are you sure?"  
"Yes! He was starring at him and muttering! You need to keep eye contact when you're jinxing something, like he was doing!"  
"What?" asked Potter, coming over to join them.  
"Gra… Hermione thinks that it was Snape jinxing your broom."  
"It was! If I hadn't distracted him by setting his robes on fire, you might have been killed!"  
"You set Snape on fire!?"  
"I set his robes on fire. He put them out. It just distracted him from jinxing Harry."  
"Look, how do you know Snape wasn't trying to stop the jinx on Harry's broom?"  
"If he was trying to stop it, why did the jinx stop when I distracted him? It would have got worse!"  
"Plus, why would Snape try and stop someone jinxing me? We all know he hates me!" Potter added.  
"There's a big difference between hating someone and wanting them dead!" Draco exclaimed. He knew that more than anyone.  
"Look, I know he's your Head of House and all, but I really think he was trying to kill Harry."  
"And I really think he wasn't." Draco sighed. This argument clearly wasn't going to get them anywhere. "Can we agree to disagree for now?"  
"Fine," Granger reluctantly agreed, with mutters from Potter and Weasley too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know you're probably wondering, when are they actually going to start picking up on more clues about the Philosophers Stone? The plot changes have led to them being a bit behind canon, but they should be catching up again in the next couple of chapters!


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! And the plot's starting to get back on track. I'll try to get the next update written ASAP (but don't be surprised if it's another fortnight...)

The match was rescheduled for the following week. Snape ended up refereeing, which many people found highly suspicious. Draco tried to argue to his friends that Snape probably wanted to be there in case Harry's broom got jinxed again, but they still believed he was there _so_ Harry's broom got jinxed again. However the match was completed successfully. Snape was blatantly biased against Gryffindor (even Draco would admit that), but there was no evidence of him, nor anyone else, making an attempt on Harry's life. Harry had managed to catch the snitch, giving Gryffindor a fairly sizeable victory.

 

Now Potter was slightly less stressed about Quidditch (the final Gryffindor match being weeks away), he was back up for some night-time walkabouts. Granger was not. She lectured the boys on rule-breaking, and adamantly refused to come. In some ways, it was probably a good thing, because there probably wasn't room for four people under Harry's invisibility cloak. Once or twice a week, Potter and Weasley would sneak out of Gryffindor under the invisibility cloak, and come meet Draco down in the dungeons, then they'd go explore the castle. Over the years of his previous life, Draco had explored most of the castle, but it was still a surprisingly fun thing to do. They found some abandoned classrooms that they tried meeting in during the day (particularly when the weather was bad); they'd often end up getting chased out of them in the end by a teacher or Filch, and none of them were right for a permanent 'clubhouse', but they were better than nothing.

 

One day when they were sat in one of the abandoned classrooms, Granger presented them all with revision timetables. Draco was quite surprised, then amused by just how 'full-Granger' she could apparently go. Harry and Ron just seemed bemused. After some bickering (and protests about how far away the exams were), Draco decided to try and solve the argument by offering the trade that the boys would pay attention to the revision timetable if Granger agreed to sneak out with them one night (something Potter and Weasley had been needling her about for some time). Of course, Draco had zero intention of following the revision timetable (or revising at all), but she didn't need to know that.

 

So that's how the four of them ended up wandering around the third floor one night, squashed together under the invisibility cloak. Draco should have realised that Potter's chaos magnet is magnified by being in the presence of both his partners in crime. Of course something would go down!

 

Things had been going alright until they heard a door open and saw the Muggle Studies teacher, Professor Burbage, coming down the corridor. The others panicked because they didn't want to get caught by a teacher. Draco panicked because he hadn't really seen the professor much during the year, and so the last time he was near her was when he watched the Dark Lord murder her (in Draco's own fucking home). She was heading towards them, and there probably wasn't room for them to stand out of the way, so they needed to get off the corridor or she'd walk into them. They sped off round the corner towards a door at the end, trying to walk as quietly as possible. Potter tried the door, but it was locked. Granger started getting her wand out, but Draco got there first, casting a non-verbal unlocking charm and yanking the door open. They all piled through and Weasley pulled the door shut behind them.

 

Granger cast lumos, and promptly screamed. Potter let out a little screech as well. Weasley practically leapt into the air (though that was probably more because of the scream, as he was still facing the other way).

"Holy shit!" exclaimed Draco. There was a fucking massive three-fucking-headed dog in the room. It had been asleep, but all their noise had awoken all the heads. They barrelled back out of the room, the invisibility cloak flying off in the process, and nearly collided with Burbage who had clearly heard the commotion and was dashing towards them with her wand out.

 

"What is going on!?" she demanded.

"There's a fu… fricking Cerberus behind that door!" Draco exclaimed. Her face looked less surprised than it should do. "You know? Oh, of course you do. I guess all the teachers know that there's a fricking monster in the school. But not the pupils of course. Why would we need to know that this place is even more of a death trap?"

"I believe Professor Dumbledore told the whole school that this corridor was out of bounds."

"Has he never heard of a warning sign? We all know this castle is a maze. It's not hard to end up here by accident."

"But you four shouldn't be here at all. You should be in bed."

"Ok, fair point. But my argument still stands. And in our defence, the only reason we're really here is in the hope we can find somewhere to meet up in the day. There's basically no inter-house social spaces. It's a real problem. Does no one care about school unity? Is there a secret agenda to stop people in different houses being friends?"

"If you wanted somewhere to meet your friends, you should have asked one of your teachers, not snuck around after hours. It's against the school rules for a reason. That's ten House Points from each of you, and a detention. Now, get back to bed all of you, right now, or I'll be increasing your punishment." They got out of there pretty sharpish, quickly muttering that they'll talk tomorrow before Draco separated off to head back down to the dungeons.

 

Draco was hoping to catch up with his friends over breakfast, but he'd barely stepped out of the common room when Snape appeared seemingly from nowhere and wordlessly summoned him to his office with a face that would make most first years shit their pants. Draco managed to keep a grip on his sphincters, but he was still pretty nervous, even though he'd been through worse in his previous life than Snape was likely to throw at him.

 

"Why have I been hearing that one of my Slytherins was caught out after curfew last night, in the company of _Gryffindors_ no less, on the third floor corridor everyone knows is forbidden?"

"Erm... well… we were trying to not get caught out after curfew, and accidentally ended up on that corridor. And it turned out we had to prioritise not dying over not being caught. Because there's a _fricking massive Cerberus hanging around!_ "

"Are you trying to put the blame for you being out after curfew on a Cerberus?"

"Well, surely it isn't unusual for one to not expect to find a dangerous monster like that _in a school of all places_? And isn't one of the rules of being a Slytherin _just don't get caught_? Therefore I acted like a logical Slytherin would act and hence it isn't my fault forces were at play which lead to me getting caught out."

"Hmph," Snape sighed, with mixed disapproval, but also reluctant respect for Draco's use of argument. "I would recommend that you abstain from night-time jaunts at all in future. And stay away from that corridor. I do not wish to undermine my colleague, so I shall let your current punishment stand, but you should know that I doubt anyone will be as lenient if you get caught out in future. You will be informed of the details of your detention later shortly."

 

The Gryffindor trio wasn't in the hall by the time Draco made it to breakfast; they'd probably already finished (although knowing Ron, he wouldn't be surprised if the redhead was still in bed with it being the weekend). Draco ate fairly quickly, deflecting Theo's nosey inquiry into what Snape had wanted, then headed over to the library to see if his friends were there and just maybe make a slight effort for his homework if not. They were there, but surprisingly Granger was sat on a different table to Potter and Weasley.

 

"Hey guys," Draco greeted sitting down at the boys' table. They returned his greeting, but Hermione didn't even turn round. He looked to Ron and Harry in questioning.

"Hermione's annoyed about us getting her into trouble," Ron explained.

"We could have been killed, or worse, expelled!" the girl in question exclaimed, finally turning round in her chair.

"But we weren't, so it's fine," Draco reassured her. "Besides, how were we to predict they'd be a massive Cerberus hanging around? This place is a bigger deathtrap than I remember. Maybe I should write to my father about that…?" That last sentence was muttered more to himself than anyone else.

"Well clearly the Cerberus was guarding something," Hermione replied in the self-confident patronising tone she got on occasion.

"What's a Cerberus?" Harry asked. Hermione rolled her eyes at him.

"Did you see the massive three-headed dog last night?" Draco asked him, "That's a Cerberus." He turned to Hermione. "What do you mean it was clearly guarding something?"

"Did you not see the trapdoor it was stood on?"

"No, funnily enough I was distracted by its heads."

"What if it's guarding the package?" Potter suddenly exclaimed.

"What package?"

"The one that Hagrid took from Gringotts the day we met. Remember us talking about it ages ago?"

"Oh yeah." That would be point eight on his to-do list: _'find out about mysterious package'._

"What was this?" Hermione asked. They filled her in on what they could remember. By the time they'd finished, she seemed to have forgotten that she was giving them the cold shoulder.

 

When they arrived at the hall for lunch, they were met by Burbage who handed them slips of paper.

"Your detention will be with Mr Hagrid tonight at eleven. You are to meet Mr Filch in the entrance hall, and he will escort you outside."

"Outside where?" Ron asked, but Burbage had already gone.

"The fucking Forbidden Forest…" muttered Draco. It just had to be this damn detention again, didn't it? Because it had gone so well the first time round…


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter might be quite short, but I was really looking forward to posting it, and this seemed like a good point to end the chapter. Again, there's dialogue lifted straight from the books.

So once again Draco found himself heading out to spend a detention trouncing round the Forbidden Forest. He'd spent the evening remembering and reflecting on the previous time. There had been something out there. Something killing unicorns. Draco cursed his younger self for not paying enough attention, too focussed on fleeing for his life (though that was a _non-_ Gryffindorish sense of self-preservation he hoped he still retained to some degree). How similar things would go this time, he was yet to see. He seemed to recall that last time, it was Longbottom serving the detention, not Weasley, for some reason Draco couldn't recall. Would that make a difference?

 

Sure enough, when Filch grumpily handed them off to Hagrid (still griping to himself about how they would be better off with corporal punishment, which in this case, might not be totally incorrect), Hagrid rather enthusiastically told them that they were going into the forest to look for something that had been attacking unicorns.

"There's already bin one killed, an' I 'spect it won't be long before there's more. We're going to check an' see if we can find any injured ones. We'll split up into two teams." _Great, that brilliant idea again…_  "You two, come with me, and you two, you'll go with Fang," Hagrid instructed. Draco was not all that surprised to find he was paired with Potter and the mutt.

"Are you sure it's a good idea splitting up?" Draco dared to ask.

"Don't worry! You'll be fine, if you stick to the paths! Now, if any of us finds the unicorn, we'll send up green sparks, right? An' if you get in trouble, send up red, an' we'll all come an' find you.

 

Once satisfied they were capable of sending up sparks (seemingly all the magical ability he appeared to think they needed), Hagrid sent them off into the forest  (or deathtrap, depending on your opinion of the place). Harry and Draco had been wandering for what felt like forever but was likely only a quarter of an hour or so, when they spotted a flash of white in the distance. Silently they crept towards it. The flick of a tail made Draco realise what it was.

"It's a unicorn!" he whispered to Harry, who squinted at it. Clearly even with his glasses, his eyesight wasn't great. Draco really needed to talk to him about doing something about that at a less crucial time.

 

But they weren't the only ones who had spotted it. A hooded figure came from almost the opposite direction to them, and started stalking down on the creature.

 

"Oh shit," Draco muttered. Over the years, he'd half wondered if he'd imagined the monster he saw that night. But no, here it was. Though Draco's words were quiet, somehow they seemed to catch the attention of the figure. Its head twisted towards the pair. Harry gave out a gasp of pain, stumbling backwards grasping his head. It took all of Draco's efforts to prevent his friend from falling to the ground. The figure advanced on them, and Draco could only watch with horror. After everything, here was where he'd die.

 

Suddenly the sound of hooves erupted behind them, and a centaur flew over their heads in a majestic leap, charging towards the hooded abomination. With one last reluctant look in their direction, it slunk off back through the trees. The centaur circled back towards them. It met Draco's eyes as he held his friend, who was all but unconscious. Eventually Harry seemed to come to his senses, releasing his forehead from his iron grip.

"Are you alright?" the centaur asked him, helping pull him to his feet. Harry just ogled it with wide eyes. The centaur didn't seem perturbed by the lack of response.

"You are the Potter boy. You had better get back to Hagrid. The forest is not safe at this time-especially for you."

"What was that?" Harry eventually asked. "What are you?"

"My name is Firenze. I am a centaur. I live in this forest with my herd."

"Oh," Harry replied, in a tone implying he didn't know what to say. Draco would have rolled his eyes, if he wasn't feeling so tense.

"Can you ride?" Firenze asked, addressing the pair of them this time (the first time he'd even acknowledged Draco's presence, but Draco already knew centaurs were dicks). He knelt so they could climb on his back. Draco wasn't keen on the idea, but he wanted to get out of there, so he helped boost Harry up, and was about to climb on behind him, when once again they were met by the sound of hooves, this time more, but less frantic ones.

 

"Firenze! What are you doing? Have you no shame? Are you a common mule," the first centaur to arrive bellowed. Draco had the feeling he remembered this particular centaur for its tendency to be even more of a motherfucker than the rest of them.

"Do you realise who this is?" Firenze replied, "This is the Potter boy. The quicker he leaves the forest, the better."

"What have you been telling him? Remember, Firenze, we are sworn to not set ourselves against the heavens. Have we not read what is to come in the movements of the planets?"

 

At this point, Draco realised that the two centaurs that had not yet spoken were staring at him, not their compatriots. He was a bit unnerved, with his gut telling him to just run. But he shouldn't leave Harry behind, and just maybe, the centaurs had useful knowledge to impart (if he could actually get two words of sense out of them, rather than vague philosophical sounding nonsense). One of them gestured towards Draco, and so nervously, he stepped away from the argument and towards them.

 

"There is centaur magic surrounding you. Strong centaur magic. Why?" the centaur that gestured (taller than its companion, with brown hair, whilst the other had black).

"I cannot tell you." The centaurs seemed to consider Draco's answer (or lack thereof) for a short while.

"You are not who the stars say you should be. I have to believe our fellow centaurs had good reason to interfere. We shall not question their plan." He turned to the group as a whole. Firenze and the other centaur were still bickering. "We shall escort the wizard foals back out of the forest," he announced. The angry centaur looked even more aggrieved by this proclamation, but the brown centaur silenced him with a look.

 

So that's how Draco found himself wandering back out of the Forbidden forest in the company of four centaurs, one of which was carrying Harry on its back (there had been no mention of Draco getting a lift, and he didn't want to ask). They were met by a surprisingly calm looking Hagrid, and a bemused and curious respectively Ron and Hermione.

 

"This is where we leave you," the brown centaur announced. He spoke his parting words quiet enough that only Draco could hear. "Never before have I known centaurs to use such magic on wizards as that which flows off you. I trust you to live up to whatever duties the fates have placed upon your shoulders. Farewell for now, young wizard." He stepped away towards the forest, turning to wait for his fellows to join him (once Firenze had finished muttering some kind of astrology bullshit to Harry).

 

"Harry, Draco, you met centaurs!?" Ron asked loudly as soon as the centaurs had passed back into the trees. "What happened?"

"That, is kind of a long story. I could really use a drink…"


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm back. Another short-ish chapter (but to be fair, I should be doing other things...), and more direct quoting.

"Hagrid, I know it's late, but could we go back to your hut for a bit? I need to tell you all about what happened," Harry asked. Draco expected that the huge man would acquiesce immediately, but instead he looked shifty, and started muttering clumsily with half-formed excuses.

"What, are you hiding a dragon in there or something?" Draco joked, making a reference no one else would get to the lie Potter and his pals told him first time round. But to everyone's surprise, Draco's most of all, Hagrid's face morphed into one of very obviously false denial.

"Hagrid, _do_ you have a dragon?" Hermione asked.

"Where on Earth did you get a dragon!?" Ron exclaimed. Draco was too busy having a mental breakdown. He was getting better at keeping his meltdowns internal though. His mind was screaming _"what the fuck!!!???"_ but no words were coming out of his mouth.

 

Potter seemingly decided unanimously that they were going to go see the dragon (because of course he did, when did the risk of quite possible death ever deter him?), and started heading towards the hut. He at least seemed to pause very slightly (to listen out for dragon fire? Who knows) before barging in. Hagrid followed after him, looking like he'd like to stop him but wasn't sure how. Ron showed slightly more caution than Harry, and Hermione looked visibly nervous. Draco made up the rear, still trying to stop his brain from exploding.

 

They were all staring at the fire, at the centre of which lay a huge black egg.

 

"Where did you get it, Hagrid?" Ron asked again, "It must've cost you a fortune."

"I won it," Hagrid replied with a sigh, accepting that there was absolutely no point continuing to try and deny he had a dragon egg, "I got it in a game o' cards when I was down in the village havin' a few drinks earlier on this evening." Draco's opinion of the safety standards at Hogwarts were so low by this point, he couldn't even manage to bring himself to be outraged that a member of staff would go out drinking before supervising a detention.

"But what are you going to do with it when it's hatched?" Hermione asked. A good question.

"I'll go look in the library t'morra for some books on dragon raising. I'm sure I'll manage. I've always wanted a dragon."

"Hagrid, you live in a _wooden house_!"

"I have to agree, Hagrid, you can't keep it!" Draco piped in, "Look, don't get me wrong, part of me's always wanted a dragon. Hell, it's literally my name, but even I know you can't keep a dragon here!"

"What do you mean?" Harry asked. Draco turned round to stare at him in surprise.

"Don't tell me you think raising a dragon here’s a good idea!?" Was Potter even crazier than he'd always suspected?

"No, not that. Of course it's a problematic idea. I meant about your name?"

"You mean Draco being Latin for dragon? Wait, you didn't know that?" he asked, shocked, after seeing the look of sudden understanding on Harry's face.

"I don't speak Latin."

"You went to a Muggle school, right? What did they teach you?"

"Lots of things," Harry replied, slightly defensively, "Just not Latin."

"Most Muggle schools don't teach Latin nowadays," Hermione added, "Only the really posh ones. And then, generally only the secondary schools."

"Wait, so you don't know any Latin either?"

"Oh, no, I started teaching myself the basics when I heard that spells were largely Latin-based."

"Mum taught us basic Latin too," Ron added when Draco looked his way questioningly.

 

"Can we maybe get back to the matter in hand?" Potter exclaimed, trying to change the focus of the conversation, "you know, how Hagrid's got a dragon egg. Oh, and how Voldemort's apparently roaming the forest attacking unicorns!" That shut everybody up.

"Vol… the Dark… what?" Draco managed to mumble, which was more than the rest of them, who were still stood with their mouths open.

"Apparently the figure we saw, it's Voldemort, somehow. Firenze told me. He thinks he's after whatever the giant three-headed dog's guarding."

"How do you know about Fluffy?" Hagrid asked, his surprise at hearing that clearly cancelling out the previous shock.

"Fluffy?"

"Yeah- he's mine- bought him off a Greek chappie I met in the pub las' year," [ _how many dangerous creatures had Hagrid acquired from dodgy blokes in pubs?_ ], "I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the-"

"Yes?" Harry asked eagerly. Internally Draco sighed. Harry really needed to learn a little bit of Slytherin subtlety.

"Now, don't ask me any more. That's top secret, that is."

"But Voldemort might be trying to steal it!" Hagrid visibly cringed at that.

"If that's true, all the more reason for you lot to stay away! An' can you please stop saying his name?"

"But…"

"No. Yer meddlin' in things that don' concern yeh. It's dangerous. You forget that dog, an' you forget what it's guardin', that's between Professor Dumbledore an' Nicolas Flamel-"

"Aha!" Harry exclaimed, "So there's someone called Nicolas Flamel involved, is there?"  Draco would have rolled his eyes at Harry, but he was too busy trying to remember where he'd heard that name.

"Flamel… wasn't he an alchemist?" he asked.

"You lot! You need to stop this right now!" Hagrid shouted, actually putting some authority into his voice. "Someone needs to explain to me what happened in the forest, then you all need to go back up to the castle and go to sleep. It's late!"

 

So between them, Harry and Draco told the others about the hooded figure they'd seen in the forest. Hermione audibly gasped, and Ron looked a bit like he was going to shit himself. Harry went quite quiet when he told them about the burning in his scar, and when he repeated what he could remember of Firenze's words. Draco kept the centaurs' words to him to himself. Hagrid looked pretty pale as he walked the four of them back up to the castle, entering the building himself (going to update Dumbledore probably).

 

Draco updated his to-do list before going to sleep (there were too many thoughts flying around his head to sleep anyway).

 

> _To do list:_
> 
> 1\. _~~Befriend Potter~~ __/__
> 
> 2. _Find somewhere to meet up_
> 
> 3. _Save everyone_
> 
> 4\. _Teach Potter about quality tailoring_

> _5\. Deal with Weasley's rat_

> 6\. _Find out what the whole deal with Quirrell was_

> 7\. _Not start a war with my parents_

> 8. _Find out about mysterious package_

> 9.  _Teach Potter about wand care_

> 10\. _Practice occlumency_

> 11. _Check whether fate will counteract any changes I make_

> 12\. _Stop the Dark Lord getting his hands on mysterious package_

> 13\. _Tell Potter to get his glasses checked. Or replaced_

> 14\. _Teach Potter basic Latin_

> 15\. _Teach Potter about subtlety_

> 16\. _Deal with Hagrid's dragon egg_

He wasn't making very good progress with the list (to be fair, some of the items were more urgent than others). One item in particular caught his eye:

> 5\. _Deal with Weasley's rat_

Now he knew that the Dark Lord was likely roaming the Forbidden Forest somehow, he really should deal with the rat sooner rather than later. What if Draco's changes meant Wormtail was reunited with his master far earlier, and hence managed to move the Dark Lord's resurrection forward by three years? That would have the opposite effect to what he was trying to achieve with his mission. The rat had to go. And quickly.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I wrote this chapter all in one go (in the time I should have been writing something else) so I hope it makes sense. I'm bad at proof-reading my own writing, so do please point out any errors. Hopefully I should be able to work on the story a bit more frequently for a while now, so you might be getting more regular updates (fingers crossed).

When he awoke the next morning (rather later into the morning than usual), Draco already had started formulating a plan. There's nothing like a deadline to motivate yourself to actually do something you've been procrastinating off for months.

 

He ate his breakfast as quick as possible, being slightly waylaid by Zabini asking him what kept him out so late the night before, eyebrows waving suggestively (which rather shocked Draco; he was meant to be eleven for Merlin's sake, what kind of shenanigans could he have been up to?). He answered honestly that he had detention, then shot off before the boy could try and draw any more details out of him.

 

He headed to one of their abandoned classrooms. It wasn't a perfect meeting spot (yet another incomplete task from his list), but it would serve the purpose required for his plan. He checked all was in order and began to get the place set up, before continuing to the next place he needed to call; Snape's office.

 

"Enter."

"Good morning, Sir."

"Ah, Malfoy," his Head of House spat out, not sounding best pleased to see him, "I do hope you're not here to tell me you've got yourself into more trouble?"  
"No Sir. I'm here because I need your help with a matter."

"My help?"

"Yes Sir. I can't tell you what it's about right now, just that it's something I think may be a threat to the security of the school."

"If this is anything to do with the events in the forest last night, rest assured that the Headmaster will be looking into it, and you should stay well and truly out of it." That almost knocked Draco off his train of thought. He hadn't expected Snape to know about that already. Though to be fair, he shouldn't be surprised. He already knew Hagrid had likely filled Dumbledore in straight away, and it wouldn't be unexpected of Dumbledore to make sure his spy was up to date as soon as possible.

"No, it's not about that. It's something else. I need you to meet me in the third room on the left in the charms corridor at six pm tonight. I'll explain then."

"What makes you think that I am available at your beck and call?"

"Please Sir," Draco all but begged, daring to meet Snape's eyes and hoping his Occlumency held, "I think it might be important."

"Fine. But if you are wasting my time, I won't hesitate to put you in detention."

"Thank you Sir. See you this evening."

 

Next was possibly an even more difficult task; getting McGonagoll to agree to come along too.

 

"Mr Malfoy?" she greeted him, surprised, "To what do I owe this visit?"

"I need your help with a matter that has come to light, which I think may affect the security of the school."

"Why me? Surely you should see your own Head of House, or the Headteacher if you think the matter is serious?"

"I've asked Professor Snape for help too. But it also involves Gryffindors and Transfiguration, so I thought I should get you involved as well."

"Gryffindors. Are you telling me that you, Potter, Weasley and Granger have managed to find yourselves in yet more trouble?"

"No Professor. Well, not really. I can't explain it right now. But I need you to meet me in the third room on the left in the charms corridor at six pm tonight. I've asked Professor Snape to be there too. I'll explain everything then."

"This really is most irregular, Mr Malfoy."

"Please Professor."

"Fine. But if you're playing some kind of practical joke, don't think I won't take House Points and put you in detention."

"Professor Snape said much the same thing. Except without the House Points."

"Of course he did…"

 

Now he just needed to make sure the rat was there, without risking arousing its suspicions. Where would he find Weasley? He poked his head into the hall, where the few people in there seemed to either be having a late breakfast or early lunch. Looking for Ron near food was always a good shout. But he wasn't there. (Draco did note that Crabbe and Goyle were, still sat in the same place as they were earlier, now eating lunch and looking like they hadn't moved since breakfast).

 

Next he headed to the library. There was no Potter or Weasley, but Granger was sat there on her own, behind a mountain of books.

"Greetings Hermione."

"Draco! Hi! Good, you can help me look through these books!"

"What?" Draco asked, slightly taken aback as she started piling books into his arms. "Where are Ron and Harry?"

"You really expect those two to surface before at least midday!?"

"It is midday. Well, just about."

"Is it? I must have lost track of time."

"What have you been doing?"

"Well, I started by looking on books on dragons, wondering what we're going to do about that egg of Hagrid's," ( _"What **we're** going to do?"_) "He really can't keep it! Then after that I've been trying to find out about Nicolas Flamel. Your comment about him being an alchemist has helped me narrow down where to look, but I still haven't found anything so far. If there's two of us reading, it'll speed up the process."

"Urgh, fine," Draco acquiesced. He had to admit, he was curious. He felt there was a reason he vaguely recalled the name.

 

When after a while they'd still found nothing, Hermione reluctantly agreed they should head for lunch. Ron and Harry were already sat at the Gryffindor table, so Draco waved to them before heading over to the Slytherin one. Just as he was finishing his lunch, the three of them headed over.

 

"Hey Draco," Ron began, "We’re heading to go see Hagrid about the… OW!..." (Hermione had elbowed him sharply in the ribs) "The you-know-what…"

"I'll join you," Draco agreed, elegantly wiping his mouth on his napkin then standing up from the table. He nodded goodbye to Crabbe and Goyle, with whom he had been engaged with a vague conversation (that had petered out into silence as they got distracted by eating, so he didn’t feel rude leaving).

 

"We were saying, what are we going to do!?" Hermione gushed, voice filled with her usual worry. "He can't keep it!"

"I'm not sure Hagrid will agree," Harry argued. Unfortunately, Draco had the feeling Harry was probably right.

"My brother Charlie works with dragons. Maybe I could get him to write and try and persuade Hagrid? Apparently they always got on when Charlie went here. Hagrid might listen to him." Draco doubted that, but it did give him an idea.

 

Hagrid's hut was sweltering when they arrived. He must have decided that was what the egg needed. Draco sighed to himself. He had too much shit to deal with. He didn't have time to spend hours dealing with whatever chaos this giant man-child brought by trying to raise a dragon.

 

"Hagrid. You cannot keep this dragon. You live in a wooden hut. At a school. It's ridiculous. The egg has to go."

"I can't abandon him!"

"Ron says his brother works with dragons. Ron, do you think he'd be able to come collect the egg somehow, and take it back with him?"

"I could write to him and ask?"

"You can't take Norbert!"

"What?"

"The dragon. I'm going to name him Norbert."

"Hagrid, don't be absurd!"

"Hagrid, please, Draco's right, this is no place to raise a dragon. Charlie works on a dragon reserve. Norbert will be much happier there, amongst his own kind."

 

Eventually, somehow, they managed to get through to Hagrid and he reluctantly agreed that maybe the dragon would be better off in a dragon reserve.

 

"But how would we get the egg out of here? It's illegal to trade dragons. And what if the egg hatches before Charlie's able to collect it?" Hermione asked.

"Hagrid, are there any points outside Hogsmeade that would be good for a covert meeting? Time is of the essence, so we don't want to waste it passing messages back and forth. If Ron writes to Charlie this afternoon, letting him know what's going on, and asking if he could meet you somewhere as soon as possible, we might be able to get the egg out of here before it hatches. You clearly managed to get the egg here from the village without any problem, so hopefully you'd be able to get it back out again too."

 

Eventually they had a plan. Ron wrote the letter to his brother there and then (on some parchment Hermione happened to have with her), and the Gryffindors would send it off with Harry's owl on the way back to the tower.

 

Just as Draco was about to leave them to head back to the dungeons, he realised he'd forgotten all about the rat situation.

"Wait!" he called at their retreating backs.

"What?"

"I almost forgot. I need you guys to meet me in the third room on the left in the charms corridor at six-thirty this evening. And Ron, I need you to bring your rat."

"What, why?"

"I'll explain later. But it's important."

"Why Scabbers?"

"I'll explain later." On seeing the distrusting look on Ron's face, he added, "I promise, no rats will be harmed in the process." That was technically true. After all, Pettigrew wasn't really a rat.

"Ok."

"Six-thirty. Charms corridor. Third room on the left," he repeated before leaving.

 

The plan was all in place. He just needed to pull it off.


	15. Chapter 15

Draco made sure he headed to the room in good time to check everything was ready. He pulled out a drawer from one of the rickety cupboards at the side of the room and expanded it until it was big enough for a grown man to stand in.

 

McGonagoll was the first to arrive, just before six. Immediately she started looking round the room impatiently, and demanded he tell her what she was doing there. Before Draco had a chance to try and placate her, the door opened once more.

"Mr Malfoy, this better be good…" Snape sneered, jolting slightly when he spotted McGonagoll. "Minerva, I didn't expect to see you here."

"Mr Malfoy asked me to come meet him here too. Care to explain to us now why we're here?"

"So, well, erm… I think there's something suspicious about Weasley's rat."

"Is this a joke?" Snape asked, "Just what pray tell, is so suspicious about Weasley's rat that it requires the time of two staff members."

"I think it's an animagus."

"Mr Malfoy, what reason do you have to suspect this?" McGonagoll asked, sounding slightly concerned now.

"I'm not sure. I can't say. It's just… Look please, just humour me. I've told Weasley to bring his rat here for 6:30. I didn't say why. Didn't want to give the rat a chance to overhear something and get suspicious. There must be spells you can do to check whether or not it is an animagus. If it turns out I'm wrong, then I'm wrong, but at least I'll know."

"Hmph," Snape snorted in exasperation, "Even if this tale isn't complete nonsense, why am I here? Professor McGonagoll is the Transfiguration teacher, and is more than capable of doing the required spells without my help."

"I thought the rat might be dangerous. If it is someone hiding out in disguise, then there must be a reason for that. Ron said the rat's been in his family for a long time, for about a decade. Normal rats don't live for a decade. And what happened just over a decade ago…?" he paused to let his implication sink in. "I think it's sensible to be cautious."

 

No one said anything for a short while, which Draco counted as a success because it meant his professors were seriously considering his suspicions. Snape had a smug expression on his face indicating he felt he had a good idea about things Draco wasn't saying. He kept trying to meet Draco's eyes, clearly trying to read his mind and confirm his suspicions. Draco wasn't having that. He didn't think his occlumency skills were good enough to present the false story Snape was probably expecting (more than likely that Draco had overheard something from his father about the rat being a Death Eater or something).

 

"So why did you tell us to come here for six, if Mr Weasley isn't bringing his rat until half past?" McGonagoll asked after a while.

"So I could explain, and we could get ready." They both looked at him with a look suggesting he hadn't done much explaining. "I thought we could put the rat in this box," he told them, indicating to the drawer he'd expanded, "It shouldn't be able to escape, and there should still be room for when it expands into a human." McGonagoll inspected the box carefully, casting a few spells on it. She gave him an impressed but curious look (probably having realised he'd transfigured the box, something that should theoretically have been above his skill level).

 

Eventually 6:30pm approached. Draco suggested that McGonagoll and Snape stand to the side, to reduce the chance of the rat spotting them and bolting before they got it in the box.  The door swung open and Hermione was the first to charge through, talking excitably at him before she'd even got over the threshold.

"Draco! Guess what! After searching through all those books in the library this morning, it turns out the answer was sat on my bedside table the whole time! I know who Flam…" stopping when she finally noticed Draco's _'stop talking!'_ facial expression. Ron and Harry had followed her through the door. They all gave him ' _what is this all about?'_ looks. Harry jerked when he spotted Snape glaring at them, but Ron was still none the wiser.

"Ron, can you put Scabbers down in this box?" Draco asked. Ron looked uncertain but did as he asked. As he stepped back slightly, Snape and McGonagoll moved forward, startling him.

"What's going on?"

"I asked Professors McGonagoll and Snape to check something about Scabbers."

"Check what?"

"Your friend here seems to think it might be an animagus for some reason," Snape snarled. Draco might just have been projecting, but he felt the rat seemed more panicked on hearing that.

 

McGonagoll pushed the Gryffindors back from the box and pointed her wand at the rat. Snape took up a defensive position. Draco held his breath. There was a loud snap then suddenly something could be seen expanding in the box (the base of which wasn't visible from Draco's viewpoint). It stopped, leaving the crouched form of a brown haired man. Multiple gasps of shock could be heard.

 

"Peter!?" McGonagoll cried out, her voice sounding strained with shock and emotion. The figure turned towards her. They stared at each other for a few seconds, then he suddenly made a grab for her wand. A blast threw him back down into the box. Snape glared down at him, clearly having been quick on the draw, firing a stunner off at him.

"How?" McGonagoll muttered.

"That's what I would like to know…" Snape growled.

"Who is that man?" Weasley asked, looking rather unwell.

"That, somehow, appears to be Peter Pettigrew, a man who is supposed to be dead." Hermione gasped, presumably recognising the name from her reading. Harry and Ron just looked lost.

 

"I don't know what is going on, but I think it would be wise if we get the aurors here," McGonagoll announced. She summoned a Patronus to send to Dumbledore.

"Albus, can you send for the aurors and come meet us in third room on the left in the charms corridor?" Snape looked exasperated by her contacting Dumbledore for some reason, and Ron, Harry and Hermione looked even more confused/shocked at the sight of the Patronus.

 

Dumbledore appeared suddenly in a flash of light. Even McGonagoll looked like she thought that was too motherfucking melodramatic.

"Minerva, Severus, what is going on?" he asked. Snape just pointed his rather overlarge nose in the direction of Pettigrew. Dumbledore had the decency to look rather shocked by the sight.

"Peter Pettigrew? How?"

"It appears he's been hiding out as an animagus, in the form of Ronald Weasley's pet rat." Dumbledore actually acknowledged the children's presence for the first time, looking to Ron who just shrunk back, looking like he wished this all wasn't happening.

"Really? Might I ask…"

"Should we not leave the questions until the aurors get here?" Snape suggested. Dumbledore looked disappointed, but remained silent.

 

It was probably about five minutes later when Dumbledore announced that the aurors were just arriving. How he knew, Draco wasn't sure. He wouldn't put it past the man to be chatting shit; he knew the aurors would be arriving sooner rather than later, so it wouldn't be hard to guess approximately when they might get there and pretend he'd detected their presence on the school grounds. It wasn't like any of the others would be able to call him out on it. It was about another minute later when the door flew open and three aurors came charging into the room.

"Dumbledore, what’s going on?"

"That, is a good question. That," he said, gesturing towards Pettigrew's unconscious form, "appears to be Peter Pettigrew. Who we all know is supposedly dead. We thought it would be prudent to get some outside expertise." The aurors all starred at Pettigrew. It appeared two of them wouldn't have recognised Pettigrew from Merlin, but seemed to be taking Dumbledore's word for it. The third (the one who spoke to begin with) stared more closely, taking out his wand and casting some detection spells over the figure.

"Where did he come from?"

"He is apparently an animagus. A rat. He's been hiding out as the pet of one of our pupils," McGonagoll answered. "Concerns were brought to Severus and myself today about the rat, and when we investigated we found out it was Pettigrew in animagus form."

"He tried to make a grab for Minerva's wand, so I stunned him," Snape added. "It is all rather suspect.."

"That does sound most irregular. We should take him in, to verify his identity, and start questioning him about how he came to be here. Anderson will stay here and take statements from you all," the senior auror announced, indicating at a younger auror, who must have been Anderson.

"Don't forget that he is a rat animagus," Snape added, earning a scowl from the auror who appeared to think he was being patronised, "Based on what I saw earlier, he may well make an attempt at escape if given the chance."

"We won't give him the chance. If he is guilty of some misdemeanour, he won't be getting away."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter wasn't as prompt as it could be; this time the reason is straight-up procrastination (I've been binge-knitting, and bashing my way through "Lego Harry Potter" amongst other things). This was quite a hard chapter to write.  
> In case you were wondering, Draco has some more half-assed explanations for his suspicions, which he'll be getting out next chapter.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm finally covering the plot points I've been forgetting. Please point out if there's any other threads I appear to have dropped (I might have intentional plans for them, but I might have forgotten them).

Dumbledore escorted the two aurors transporting Pettigrew out. Anderson, the third auror remained in the abandoned classroom with the rest of them. McGonagoll conjured them all chairs and summoned a house elf to bring them some sandwiches and pumpkin juice (which went rather ignored). Anderson began his questioning. First he had Snape and McGonagoll give a more detailed telling of what happened. Then he started asking Draco about it, and how he'd known the rat was an animagus. Draco didn't have to pretend to be nervous; he knew if he stuffed this up, there'd be a lot of eyes staring at him, and he didn't want that.

"Erm… well…  I guess there was always just something about the rat… I don't know what it was, but it made me uneasy. When Ron said it'd been in his family for a decade, I thought that didn't sound right.  I'd been doing a bit of reading on animagi, and it made me wonder. So I asked Professors Snape and McGonagoll to look into it. I was hoping they'd put my mind at ease. I thought I was just being paranoid."

"What in particular about the rat made you suspicious?"

"Erm… I don't know…" The auror was really staring into Draco now. _Shit, he's not buying it._

"Auror Anderson!" McGonagoll interrupted, "Remember, this is a child you're trying to interrogate!"

"Ok, yes, quite right," Anderson reluctantly agreed. He turned his glare from Draco, now focusing on Ron.

"So I believe the rat was your pet, correct?"

"Erm, yes," Ron squeaked.

"Was you ever aware of anything that made you suspicious that your rat wasn't an ordinary rat?"

"No." This time it was barely a whimper. He looked pretty broken. Draco didn't think even the old him would have managed to find it funny.

"I think that's enough. Our pupils have had quite a stressful evening. I think we've told you all we know. If you have any further questions, I'm sure we could arrange to answer them another time." McGonagoll announced. Anderson looked like he'd like to argue, but wouldn't dare.

 

Draco took this as an opportunity to make a getaway. Part of him would have liked to speak with his friends (and felt he probably should do), but another part of him wanted to put off that conversation for now. Plus Snape was glaring at him like he wanted to have an interrogation of his own. No thanks.

 

Zabini and Nott were sat playing exploding snap as he entered the dorm.

"What happened to you? You look like shit," Zabini commented as he passed.

"Thanks very much."

"No but seriously, what happened. You and those Gryffindors you hang out with for some unknown reason been courting chaos again?"

"Something like that. And no, before you ask, I'm not going to tell you about it, Zabini. You'll just have to wait for it to get around the webs of gossip or something." Zabini pouted. Draco crawled onto his bed and pulled the curtains around to shut him out.

 

Draco got his list out again. He didn't want to tempt fate by ticking off _"Deal with Weasley's rat"_ but it seemed like he'd done all he needed to do for that one. He'd made good progress today with _"Deal with Hagrid's dragon egg"_ too. What next? There was a weirdly high number of tasks involving Harry on the list, but those could wait until the summer. He really should get back on with _"Find somewhere to meet up";_ he'll get on that tomorrow.

 

> 6.  _Find out what the whole deal with Quirrell was_
> 
> 8.  _Find out about mysterious package_
> 
> 12.  _Stop the Dark Lord getting his hands on mysterious package_

 

 

Those three he needed to think on more. He stared at them, hoping for inspiration. Suddenly it hit. _What if they're connected!?_ Well, obviously the last two are connected, but what if whatever Quirrell was up to was connected somehow? He racked his brain for what he could remember of Potter's supposed exploits in his original first year. He and his friends had got up to something in the middle of the night hadn't they? Dumbledore had awarded Longbottom some points for bravery in standing up to friends or some bullshit? He seemed to recall hearing rumours that Granger had cursed him when he tried to stop them sneaking out of the corridor in the middle of the night in some sad attempt at House pride or some crap.

 

Dumbledore had been super vague about what Potter and his pals had actually done, but implied they'd helped defend the school or something. They probably tried to stop the mysterious package from being stolen. And since Quirrell was involved somehow, he might well have been one of the ones trying to steal it. Where did Weasley's chess come into it? Did he end up challenging Quirrell to a game of chess for the mysterious package or something?

 

He needed more information. From what Granger said before he'd managed to shut her up, it sounded like she might have found out more about Flamel. Hopefully that would be a useful clue.

 

 

Breakfast the next morning was surprisingly calm. It seemed no one had heard about the capture of the rat the night before. Draco snagged a copy of the Daily Prophet from Greengrass, but there was no mention of the capture of that rat. Huh? Guess the Ministry must be wanting to keep that quiet until they figure out what on Earth is going on and how come he's not dead. Draco didn't get a chance to speak with his friends before classes started, but from seeing them from a distance, they didn't seem totally broken (albeit rather subdued).

 

When he left Defence that afternoon he found himself grabbed by the elbow and marched in the other direction than where he was heading. He let out a little squeak of surprise until he recognised the bush of hair on the person stood next to him and just went with it. Ron gave him a vaguely apologetic shrug from behind whilst Harry slunk along beside them, looking rather tired and rubbing his forehead like he had a headache coming on.

 

"Why did you disappear so quickly last night!? We wanted to talk to you!" Hermione exclaimed, after leading them into another derelict classroom (this one far dustier than last night's).

"Yeah, sorry. Snape was pulling his _'I want to talk with you'_ face, and I didn't fancy that. Hopefully if I avoid him long enough he'll forget about it and get distracted by someone else. In fact Harry, if you would volunteer to be that 'someone else', I'd appreciate it."

"Yeah, no thanks. I'd avoid Snape forever if it was at all possible."

"But what happened last night!?" Hermione interrupted. "I've not had chance to review all the books about Harry's parents and everything, but how is Peter Pettigrew alive!? And why was he pretending to be Ron's rat?"  
"That's what I'd like to know!" Ron added, "How can it be that my pet rat was really a middle-aged man!?" ( _"Well, actually, he's only in his early thirties,"_ Hermione muttered, going rather unheard). "And how did you know!? What you said last night about Scabbers acting suspicious, I don't buy it. You barely even saw him! How did you know!? Please, I need to know!"

"Look… I… I don't know…"

"Draco!"

"I can't say!"

"Why? Who told you?" Ron paused before adding, "Was it your father?" Letting Snape come to that conclusion might work (hopefully), but it wasn't the right story for this crowd.

"No. But they don't want me to tell anyone. When they hinted the other night…"

"Who are 'they'? What other night?"

"The centaurs!?" asked Harry. _Boom! Taken the bait!_ Hopefully they'd buy this lie. Harry did seem very enthralled by Firenze. He schooled his face then reluctantly nodded.

"Oh, wow, okay," said Ron, calming significantly. They stayed in silence for a while.

 

"Oh, that reminds me!" Hermione burst through the silence, her energy actually being a good thing for once, "I found out who Flamel was!"

"Who?"

"Only the maker of the bloody Philosopher's Stone apparently!" Ron announced before she had chance to answer. She glared at him, like she was accusing him of trying to take credit for her research.

"The Philosopher's Stone? You don't mean…?"

"We do mean!" Ron enthused.

"Well shit. I guess we know why the Dark Lord's after it…"

 

"So what are we going to do?" Harry asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we can't let Voldemort get his hands on the Philosopher's Stone, can we?"  
"Dumbledore clearly has a plan to defend it. We should leave him to it." Somehow Draco managed to say that without cringing. Trust Dumbledore? He can't believe he just suggested that. But the idea they, four pre-teens (well, three-preteens and an adult in the body of a pre-teen) should interfere is even more ludicrous. Harry didn't reply, but it was clear this conversation wasn't over.

 

Now they'd covered the urgent conversation pieces, Hermione suggested they relocate to the library, bemoaning how much studying time they had lost recently. Draco said he'd come join them later; he was going to have a wander round to try and find their as-yet-undiscovered clubhouse.

 

He found himself on the seventh floor. He'd not really explored this area of the castle much. He thought it was just because it was a fair distance from the dungeons. But as he passed the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy, he realised maybe subconscious avoidance had been a factor too. The Room of Requirement. Arguably the perfect solution to the problem he'd been chasing all year. One he'd known about the whole time, and yet never considered. The appearance of the door surprised him; he hadn't realised he'd been pacing back and forth, lost in thought. He'd not consciously tried to summon the room, but clearly it had reacted to something in his thoughts and appeared.

 

Holding his breath, he reached out a hand and slowly opened the door.

 

Inside, it was nothing like the chasmic hall of a million lost and hidden things he had spent so much time in. Instead, the room had taken the form of a cosy sitting room. Red velvet drapes coated the walls, their colour adding warmth to the room, lit by the flickering light of a fireplace. Comfy green couches sat upon a soft round rug. The place looked homely. Nothing like Draco's home; too _rustic? common?_ for his mother's interior design tastes, but it filled his heart with a sense of belonging nevertheless.

 

Draco wasn't sure how long he spent just sat there, warmed by the fire, lost in his thoughts and memories of a life that felt a million years ago now. But eventually he was roused by the sound of his stomach rumbling. He'd not eaten much the night before, and lunch was a long time ago, and so he left for the Great Hall in search of sustenance.

 

He headed over to the Gryffindor table when he'd finished eating.

"Where did you get to?" Hermione asked, "I thought you were going to come join us?"

"I found our clubhouse!"

"What?"

"You've been complaining about us trying to chat in the library, and meeting in those old classrooms really isn't ideal. I've found the alternative. Come on!"

"Now?"

"Why not?"

 

Draco had to wait a couple of minutes for Ron to finish stuffing his face with pudding before they could go. He got some weird looks as he marched back and forth in front of where the door would appear, holding up a finger to ask his friends to be patient. He'd summoned the room accidentally last time, so hopefully he could trigger it again (or something similar), or this would be embarrassing. There was quiet gasps of surprise as the door appeared. Draco opened it and lead them inside.

 

It was almost the same room he'd been in earlier, but there was the odd difference. The room seemed slightly larger. A couple of smallish tables had appeared. And the back wall was covered with bookshelves.

 

"Wow!" Hermione exclaimed. "This place is amazing!"

"Welcome to the Room of Requirement!"


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit short chapter again, but thought I'd post what I had so far

Their new meeting place made hanging out much more convenient. His friends seemed pretty impressed with how the place could conjure items out of nowhere. It produced Ron a chess set when he happened to comment it would be nice to play, and when Hermione discovered the room could provide her with books she couldn't find in the library, it seemed like it might be difficult getting her to ever leave.

 

They had another awkward conversation about Pettigrew. They'd been no news as of yet; apparently McGonagall had told Hermione when she inquired that the Ministry was keeping tight-lipped about the investigation, and that they'd just have to be patient and wait and see what they found out. 'Wait and see' was not one of his friend's specialties. Hermione had the room produce a book about the fall of the Dark Lord, and had her nose buried in it, trying to find out more about what supposedly happened, in order to try and figure out what really did. Harry seemed to find the idea of reading about his parents' deaths in a book distasteful, but he was clearly curious, so he hadn't stopped her. Draco was surprised yet again by just how little Harry seemed to know about it all. The real kicker was when Sirius Black was mentioned. It appeared Harry had never heard of him, and had no idea the man was supposedly his Godfather.

 

Draco had to think back about what he knew about Sirius Black. Cousin of his mother. Sent to Azkaban for supposedly being a secret Death Eater (but apparently wasn't?). Escaped Azkaban in their original third year (leading to the school being over-run by dementors). Then was captured but escaped or something at the end of the year. Draco wasn't sure what happened to him afterwards, but had the feeling he'd heard something about the man being killed at the battle at the Ministry in fifth year (the one where his father got arrested). Draco didn't think Black was fighting for the Death Eaters, so did that mean he was fighting for the Order? How did that work? Was Sirius Black actually innocent, did he never work for the Dark Lord? It definitely seemed clear that he didn't murder Peter Pettigrew, so was it that ridiculous to wonder he didn't do the rest too. Surely he'd have heard something last time round if they'd been on the same side.

 

Draco wasn't sure how much of that to say. He didn't want to get Harry's hopes up (first that the man was innocent, but also that he'd be found innocent; two very different things). But he deserved to know that the man was his Godfather at least, before he heard from elsewhere.

 

"I guess you didn't know, but you probably should. Sirius Black was meant to be your Godfather, before he was sent to Azkaban."

"What!?"

"I think he was friends with your father at school."

"But the books say Sirius Black betrayed Harry's parents!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Exactly. That's why no one ever mentions him."

"Why would he betray his friend?" _Oh you poor, naïve child._

"No one really knows." Draco paused. He couldn't leave it like this. "But in light of what we found out about Pettigrew, it puts everything into doubt. Sirius Black supposedly killed Pettigrew, but we all saw  with our own eyes that that is apparently false. Maybe he didn't do all the other things he was meant to have done."

"You think he might not have betrayed my parents?"

"I don't know. I really don't. But whatever the truth is, I hope the Ministry get to the bottom of it." _I hope the Ministry actually manages to be competent for once._

 

It seemed a worrying long time before they heard anything from Ron's brother. But one morning as Draco was leaving breakfast, Harry ran over and whispered that Charlie had replied, and that they should meet at Hagrid's after lessons and they'd fill Draco in then. Draco was impressed that Harry had managed some degree of subtly, not shouting about the dragon in the Great Hall for all and sundry to hear.

 

"Charlie agrees with your plan," Ron told him when he arrived. It looked like the Gryffindors had been there a short while already, enough time to fill Hagrid in at least, if the tear tracks down his face was anything to go by. "He says some of his friends should be able to collect the egg on Saturday night. He's even come up with some ideas on how to package the egg for the journey."

"That's great! Look Hagrid, I know you'll be upset to see Norbert go, but it'll really be for the best."

 

After trying to eat their way through some of Hagrid's rock cakes ( _what has Draco's life come to, when he actually tries to eat them, rather than just refusing? The old him would be horrified!_ ), Harry clearly decided to distract Hagrid from his moping over having to hand his dragon over by trying to nose about the Philosopher's Stone.

 

"So, are there other things guarding the Philosopher's Stone as well as Fluffy?" Hagrid frowned at him.

"How do you know about the Stone?"

"Er…"

"We have our ways," Draco intersected.

"Oh, come on Hagrid, you know everything around here," Hermione added, "We want to be sure the stone is safe. We just want to know who else has helped with guarding the stone really, who else Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, apart from you." _Nicely done. Excellent flattery, Granger._

"Well, I don' s'pose it could hurt ter tell yeh that… let's see… he borrowed Fluffy from me… then some o' the teachers did enchantments… Professor Sprout- Professor Flitwick- Professor McGonagall- Professor Quirrell- an' Dumbledore himself did somethin', o' course. Hang on, I've forgotten someone. Oh yeah, Professor Snape."

" _Snape?_ " Hermione asked. _Oh no, here we go again._

"Yes, Snape," repeated Hagrid looking confused.

"Look at the time!" exclaimed Draco, interrupting before they tried to bring Hagrid into their Snape conspiracy theory-ing, "We'd better be heading back to the castle to get on with our homework. Thanks for the tea Hagrid! We'll call by on Saturday to help make sure everything's set up for you taking the dragon egg for the meet up.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So two chapters today! Lots of dialogue straight from the books again. Things are getting exciting...

Draco was quite glad to hear Dumbledore wasn't just relying on Hagrid's beast to defend the Philosopher's Stone. However, this was sounding more and more like whatever Potter and his friends had battled through in their original first year. Plus there was the problem of his friends suspecting Snape again.

"I'm sorry to say that just because someone doesn't like you doesn't make them evil," Draco argued. "Haven't you ever had people dislike you before?"

"Only my whole life…" Harry muttered under his breath, sounding rather bitter. _Well, that wasn't worrying at all…_

"I don't think Snape's up to anything. He might be a bit of a knob, but he's not trying to steal the stone. Quirrell on the other hand…"

"Quirrell!?" Ron exclaimed, astonished.

"Yes. There's something off about him. Don't tell me you haven't noticed anything."

"Well he's not a great Defence teacher but he hardly seems like he could be some evil mastermind or anything," Harry commented, "I don't think he would say boo to a goose." _What?_

"Muggle idiom," Hermione explained, seeing his and Ron's confusion.

 

Draco didn't manage to persuade his friends, but they did agree to keep more of an eye on Quirrell and see if anything felt off about him. He wasn't sure what else they could really do to at this time. Knowing Harry, he'd end up walking into chaos and clues soon enough.

 

Apparently the dragon egg exchange went off without a hitch. Ron got a letter from his brother announcing that the egg had arrived safely and hatched shortly afterwards. It turns out the dragon was female, so he'd named it Norberta.

 

The investigation into the stone (stuck as it was) had to take a back seat as exams soon crept up on them. Draco wasn't concerned about sitting them at all (he'd sat far harder exams, and despite what Hermione might believe, there are far more important and terrifying things to face in life).  The one concession they did make was frequent trips past the forbidden corridor so they could listen and check the Cerberus was still there.

 

Draco did occasionally notice Harry rubbing his forehead, which was worrying. His friend kept changing the subject every time he tried to ask about it, and kept insisting he was fine. But quite frankly, he looked like shit, and that can't just have been exam stress. After all, Hermione seemed the most worried of the lot of them, and she looked practically radiant in comparison.

 

Finally, after the last exam, Harry admitted something was up with his scar. Hermione immediately tried corralling him to the hospital wing.

"I'm not ill," Harry insisted, "I think it's a warning… it means danger's coming…" Draco had heard rumours about Harry's scar before. He'd always found it good ammunition for teasing him, but he wished he'd actually paid attention now. This was probably important. Ron didn't seem to think so, content to just lie on the grass and mutter vague reassurances.

 

Draco was broken from his thoughts by Harry jumping to his feet.

"I've just thought of something," Harry exclaimed, his face white, "We've got to go and see Hagrid, now."

"Why?" Hermione panted, hurrying to keep up.

"Don't you think it’s a bit odd that what Hagrid wants more than anything else is a dragon, and a stranger turns up who just happens to have an egg in his pocket? How many people wander around with dragon eggs if it's against wizard law? Lucky they found Hagrid, don't you think? Why didn't I see it before?" _Shit. He's right! Why didn't I think of that!?_

"What are you on about?" Ron asked, clearly clueless. Harry didn't answer. He was busy sprinting across the grounds to Hagrid's hut. Draco sped up to try and keep pace.

 

Hagrid was sat outside his hut. He started offering pleasantries, but Harry interrupted (making Ron, who was trying to accept the offer of a drink, look annoyed).

"You know the night you won the dragon egg? What did the stranger you were playing with look like?"

"Dunno. He wouldn' take his cloak off. It's not that unusual, yeh get a lot o' funny folk in the Hog's Head." _That you do, but it still sounds rather shady._

"What did you talk to him about, Hagrid? Did you mention Hogwarts at all?"

"Mighta come up. Yeah… he asked what I did an' I told him I was gamekeeper here… He asked a bit about the sorta creatures I look after… so I told him… an' I said what I'd always really wanted was a dragon. He said he had a dragon egg, an' we could play cards fer it if I wanted… but he had ter be sure I could handle it, he didn' want it ter go ter any old home… So I told him, after Fluffy, a dragon would be easy…"

"And did he- did he seem interested in Fluffy?" Harry asked, doing a terrible job of keeping the anticipation out of his voice.

"Well- yeah- how many three-headed dogs d'yeh meet, even around Hogwarts?" [ _Too many. One is far too many_ ]. "So I told him, Fluffy's a piece o' cake if yeh know how to calm him down, jus' play him a bit o' music an' he'll go straight off ter sleep…" Hagrid suddenly looked horrified. "I shouldn'ta told yeh that!" he yelled.

"You shouldn't have told _him_ that either," Draco remarked back, before chasing after his friends who were already pelting their way back up to the school.

 

When he caught them up, Harry was panicking about finding Dumbledore. All three of them seemingly had no clue where Dumbledore's office was. Draco was about to direct them when they were interrupted by McGonagall.

"What are you four doing inside?" she asked in a tone that suggested she already knew she wouldn't like the answer.

"We want to see Professor Dumbledore," Hermione informed her.

"See Professor Dumbledore? Why?"

"It's sort of a secret…" Harry replied. Draco wasn't surprised when McGonagall's nostrils flared at that answer.

"Professor Dumbledore left ten minutes ago. He received an urgent owl from the Ministry of Magic and flew off for London at once."

"He's _gone? Now?"/ "Flew?"_ Harry and Draco both asked at the same time. McGonagall shot Draco a look suggesting that yes, she thought Dumbledore was a melodramatic motherfucker, and she was very exasperated by it, before answering Harry's question.

"Professor Dumbledore is a very great wizard, Potter, he has many demands on his time-"

"But this is important."

"Something you have to say is more important than the Ministry of Magic, Potter?"

"Look, Professor, it's about the Philosopher's Stone-". That seemed to shock her, if dropping the books she was carrying was anything to go by. Give it a few years, she wouldn't even blink an eye. She'd be well and truly used to dealing with Potter and this kind of crap.

"How do you know-?" she spluttered.

"Professor, I think- I _know_ \- that… Sn…" [Draco elbowed Harry in the side] "that someone's going to try and steal the stone. I've got to talk to Professor Dumbledore."

"Professor Dumbledore will be back tomorrow. I don't know how you found out about the stone, but rest assured, no one can possibly steal it, it's too well protected." Again, given a few years, she probably wouldn't say that either. She'd know just how much of a magnet for chaos Potter really was.

"But Professor-"

"Potter, I know what I'm talking about. I suggest you all go back outside and enjoy the sunshine."

 

"It's tonight," Harry announced, as soon as she was out of earshot.

"Why tonight? It could be during the day, or the evening…" Draco countered. Harry was about to reply when Hermione gasped. Snape was standing behind them.

"Good afternoon," he said, giving them Snape ominous smirk #13. "You shouldn't be inside on a day like this."

"We were-" Harry began, clearly having no clue what his excuse was actually going to be.

"You want to be more careful. Hanging around like this, people will think you're up to something." The way he uttered the last three words gave Draco goosebumps. Snape had definitely reclaimed first place in the melodramatic motherfucker contest back from Dumbledore with that performance. Draco started trying to drag Harry away (and hope the other two follow), before he could start any arguments with the Potions Professor. But Snape had one more thing to say before he could flounce off in a dramatic exit.

"Be warned, Potter- any more night-time wanderings and I will personally make sure you are expelled. Good day to you."

 

"Right," Harry began, once he was sure Snape was gone, "here's what we've got to do. One of us has got to keep an eye on Snape- wait outside the staff room and follow him if he leaves it."

"It's not going to be Snape!" Draco exclaimed exasperated. He wasn't always that keen on the man, but was pretty certain he hadn't/wouldn't try to steal the Philosopher's Stone. "Or at least consider that it might not be him."

"Ok, fine. We'll all wait outside the third-floor then. That way, whoever it is, we'll spot them."

 

But as soon as they got there, McGonagall turned up and started shouting.

"I suppose you think you're harder to get past than a pack of enchantments! Enough of this nonsense! If I hear you've come anywhere near here again, I'll take another fifty points from Gryffindor! Yes, Weasley, from my own house!" _Has she not noticed I'm here? Or forgotten I'm not actually one of her damned Gryffindors?_

 

She frog-marched them a good distance away before storming off.

 

"Well, that's it then, isn't it?" Harry began. Draco thought for a second he was accepting defeat, but no, "I'm going tonight, and I'm going to try and get to the stone first."

"You're mad!" exclaimed Ron. Draco rather agreed with this sentiment.

"You can't! After what McGonagall and Snape have said? You'll be expelled!" _Ah, Hermione. Just so… Hermione-ish._

"SO WHAT?" Harry exploded. "Don't you understand? If Snape gets hold of the stone, Voldemort's coming back!" [ _"It won't be Snape…"_ Draco muttered]. "Haven't you heard what it was like when he was trying to take over? There won't be any Hogwarts to get expelled from! He'll flatten it, or turn it into a school for the Dark Arts!" [" _The second one"_ Draco remarked to himself in his head]. "Losing points doesn't matter anymore, can't you see? D'you think he'll leave you and your families alone if Gryffindor win the House Cup? If I get caught before I can get to the stone, well, I'll have to go back to the Dursleys and wait for Voldemort to find me there. It's only dying a bit later than I would have done, because I'm never going over to the Dark Side! I'm going through that trapdoor tonight and nothing you three say is going to stop me! Voldemort killed my parents, remember?"

 

_HOLY FUCK. Maybe Harry should win the Melodramatic Motherfucker award. That was one hell of an angry monologue._

"You're right Harry," Hermione said in a small voice.

"I'll use the Invisibility Cloak."

"But will it cover all four of us?" Ron asked.

"All- all four of us?"

"Oh, come off it, you don't think we'd let you go alone?" _Aw hell. I guess this is what I signed up for when I decided to befriend Potter._

"Yeah, who do you take us for?" Draco added. "We're coming too. But what's the point of waiting for tonight? I said earlier, we don't know they will. And if we've got the Invisibility Cloak, it doesn't matter when we go. We should go as soon as possible."

"But you could all be expelled!"

"Did you not hear the motivational speech you just gave?"

"Well, yes…"

"Well that settles things then. Run along and get your cloak." Draco paused, another thought crossing his mind. "Actually, Ron, you know where his cloak is, right?"

"Yeah…"

"You and Hermione go get it. Hermione, you got any parchment on you?"

"Yeah, why?" she asked, handing over parchment, and a quill and ink. _Merlin bless her._

"We probably should at least attempt to get in contact with Dumbledore. And of the four of us, he's most likely to pay attention to a letter from Harry. The two of us will head to the owlrey, then we'll meet back here. Okay?"

"Okay," they all agreed, with varying degrees of confidence.

 

The plan was a-go.


	19. Chapter 19

Harry and Draco had to wait a few anxious minutes for their friends to rejoin them. Firstly, they were worried a teacher would come along and try and shoo them away again, and secondly they were wondering where the other two had got to. The owlrey was further away than the Gryffindor common room. What was taking them so long?

 

Eventually Draco noticed the sound of quiet bickering coming towards them. He wasn't at all surprised when the cloak was swung aside to reveal Ron and Hermione.

"What kept you guys?"

"Neville was in the dorm, and he wondered what we were doing, searching in Harry's trunk," Hermione explained.

"Did you curse him?"

"What!? No! Of course not!" she exclaimed, sounding horrified.

 

With difficulty, they managed to arrange all four of them under the cloak. They'd have to go slowly, but at least they wouldn't get spotted and sent away before they reached the corridor.

"And remember to keep quiet! We heard you two coming a mile off!" Draco warned.

"Hermione was…"/"Ron started…" the two started complaining but Draco shushed them.

 

They got back to the forbidden corridor without coming across any teachers. The door had been locked again, but that was no obstacle. They steeled themselves before entering the room. The Cerberus was still there alright, wide awake. _Shit. They didn't bring anything to make_ music. Draco didn't much fancy singing acapella, and didn't think his Transfiguration skills would stretch to much more than a very basic drum. Luckily Hermione had them covered.

"I found this in your trunk, Harry, whilst we were searching for the Invisibility Cloak," she said, holding up a wooden flute. "I hope you don't mind?"

"Good thinking Hermione!" Harry beamed. "Yeah, Hagrid gave me that for Christmas." _Did he now? Was that just a lucky coincidence, or forward planning on his part (or maybe his puppet-master, Dumbledore)?_

 

Harry took the flute and started playing. He clearly had little-to-no musical talent, maybe Draco should get him some lessons some time? ( _no, Draco, stay on track…_ ). Regardless, the beast began to drop off almost straight away. Between them, Ron and Draco managed to get the trapdoor open, whilst Hermione stood on guard anxiously.

"Want to go first, Hermione?" Ron asked. _Honestly! I don't think it counts as chivalry, going with 'ladies first', when it's first down a hole into quite possibly, deadly peril_.

"No, I don't!"

"Oh, go on, I'll go first if you want?" Draco offered. Harry started waving slightly, probably wanting to volunteer himself, but because he couldn't stop playing to speak, Draco took it to mean he could ignore him. He peered down the hole, shining his wand down. He couldn't see the bottom. "I don't suppose anyone brought a rope?" The response was a resounding "no". He looked around for something he could transfigure. _Damn it. This is one of my best school robes_. He took the unfortunately sacrificed garment off, using his wand to tear it into strips, which he transfigured into a stronger rope. He tied one end to the trapdoor, and dropped the other end down the hole. Now he just needed to do something with his wand. Ideally he'd like it out, lighting the way, but he wanted both his hands free. An idea struck him. He rolled his eyes at it. _Urgh, that's ridiculous!_ Unfortunately, it would probably work, and they didn’t have time to think of something better.

"Hermione, can I borrow your wand for a second?"

"Erm… yes, why?" she replied, cautiously holding it out. Draco stuck his own wand behind his ear, then took Hermione's and used it to cast a sticking charm to keep it there. Hopefully one he'd be able to undo easily enough…

 

"Well, here goes nothing. I'll shout when I reach the bottom if I'm not dead." Harry made a distressed noise over his terrible flute playing, but Draco ignored him and began climbing down the rope.

 

It wasn't quite as far down as he had originally thought. In fact, he might have been okay without the rope as at the bottom there appeared to be some kind of plant that would have probably cushioned his landing. He inspected it closer. Devil's Snare. Maybe it was for the best he'd used the rope after all. He used it to swing himself to a patch of floor the plant wasn't covering. He faced away from it and cast 'Finite Incantatem', hoping it would undo the sticking charm on his wand without undoing the transfiguration of the rope. It did, however, mean that the Lumos went out, and the Devil's Snare started trying to wrap itself round his ankles in the second before he got it relit again. With a spot of difficulty, he managed to free himself.

 

"I'm not dead!" he called up. Almost immediately, Ron came flying down the hole, seemingly barely bothering to use Draco's rope, and landing straight in the Devil's Snare. Draco was about to say something when Harry came flying down too, almost landing on top of Ron. Clearly, he'd swapped places with Hermione as she came last, nervously trying to lower herself down the rope, with some difficulty. She lost her grip and landed in the Devil's Snare too.

"Lucky this plant thing's here, really," Ron commented.

"Lucky!" shrieked Hermione. "Look at you both!" Somehow Ron and Harry had failed to notice that their legs were now bound tightly in the plant's long creepers. Hermione managed to leap out to join Draco in his clearing. Now they were aware, the boys started panicking, making the plant wrap even tighter around them.

"Stop moving!" Hermione ordered. "I know what this is- it's Devil's Snare!"

"Oh, I'm so glad we know what's it's called, that's a great help," Ron snarled back at her.

"Shut up and listen to her, you idiot!" Draco shouted. "She's right. The more you struggle, the faster it'll kill you!"

"Kill us!?" Ron squeaked. Hermione was busy muttering to herself, clearly trying to remember what she knew about the plant.

"It likes the dark and the damp-"

"So light a fire!" Harry choked.

"Yes- of course- but there's no wood!" Hermione cried.

"HAVE YOU GONE MAD? ARE YOU A WITCH OR NOT?" Ron bellowed. Were none of them capable of keeping their head in a crisis? How did the three of them survive so long without him the first time around?

"For fucks sake…" Draco muttered, casting a small fire spell. It didn't do too much (not wanting to overpower it, and end up with something resembling the Room of Requirement disaster), but Hermione joined it with her little blues flames, and between them, they were able to pull the boys free.

 

They started heading down a passageway, away from the Devil's Snare, pausing to take a breath.

"Right, so we probably should think this through for a minute," Draco announced. "It didn't look like anyone had come down there before us, but it's hard to tell. But that means whoever is trying to steal the stone is probably following us. We could find somewhere to hideout and wait and see."

"But the whole point of this was to get the stone safe before they can steal it!" Harry exclaimed.

"Have you considered that it might already be safe? Hagrid did say Dumbledore had a whole load of the teachers make protections for it. The Devil's Snare I presume was Sprout's contribution."

"Yeah, but Snape might well have tricked them into telling him about them!"

"It's not Snape!" Draco muttered, exasperated, fighting the urge to face palm. "Okay, well what do you guys think?" he asked, looking at Ron and Hermione. The pair looked awkwardly between him and Harry, settling on Harry, before looking apologetically at Draco. "Okay, fine, we'll keep trying to get the stone then. But we need to keep an eye out behind us. And we probably should keep the cloak on when possible, in case whoever it is catches up with us."

 

That agreed, they put the cloak on, and continued downwards. Soon they were met with a soft rustling and clinking noise. They followed it into a brightly lit, high-ceilinged chamber, full of small, shiny bird-like things. They snuck across the room, beware of being attacked by them, and tried the door at the other side. Even Draco couldn't manage to unlock it. They glanced around the room in puzzlement.

"They're not birds! They're keys! Winged keys!" Harry exclaimed. Sure enough, he was right.

"But there are hundreds of them!" Hermione complained.

"We're looking for a big, old-fashioned one- probably silver, like the handle-" Ron announced after examining the lock. Harry ran out from under the cloak to grab a broomstick he'd spotted at the other side of the room.

"I'll start flying and try and grab some, then you guys try them!" he announced. Draco was just about to complain, when he heard noise approaching. Another person. Oh shit! He grabbed Ron and Hermione, making sure they kept under the Invisibility Cloak and backing against the wall, casting a non-verbal silencing charm on the three of them. But Harry was too far away for them to be able to get to him before whoever it was arrived...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fairly short chapter, but thought it was a good place for a cliff-hanger...


	20. Chapter 20

Harry was already in the air and grabbing for keys as the figure entered the chamber. Draco wasn't entirely sure what Harry's thinking was; had he somehow not heard the person coming, or was this some ridiculous attempt to get the key and escape out of the room before they arrived? The keys were flying round chaotically, but he managed to snatch his hand around one. Unfortunately, that delayed him getting his wand out in defence, and it had barely left his pocket before it was flying out of his hand into that of the newcomer. Quirrell.

 

Draco really wanted to give his friends an ' _I told you so_ ' glare, but he was too busy trying to hold them back. He mimed for them to stay silent and watch, and thankfully they reluctantly went along with it, all three of them standing with their wands ready, but keeping the element of surprise for now. Harry was hovering his broom just in front of Quirrell, looking at him in surprise.

"Surprised to see me?" the man smirked, "I wondered whether I'd be meeting you round here somewhere, Potter. Were you expecting someone else? Severus perhaps? He seems the type, doesn't he? So useful to have him swooping around like an overgrown bat. Next to him, who would suspect p-p-poor st-stuttering P-Professor Quirrell?"

"I mean, you were our back up suspect," Harry snarked back, regaining some of his composure. "But Snape did try to kill me. You can't blame me for making him the prime."

"No, no, no. I tried to kill you. Your friend Miss Granger accidentally knocked me over as she rushed to set fire to Snape at that Quidditch match. She broke my eye contact with you. Another few seconds and I'd have got you off that broom. I'd have managed it before then if Snape hadn't been muttering a counter-curse, trying to save you. But he's not here now, is he? Shall I demonstrate?" Harry took that as a cue to quickly dismount from the broom. Hermione was fidgeting with concern next to Draco. He tried to mime to here that they wanted to play for time. Hopefully Harry would think of that too. As much as he hated to admit it, the best thing right now would be if Dumbledore got their message and turned up. Surely he'll zoom in to save his Chosen One?

"You're too nosy to live, Potter. Scurrying around the school at Halloween like that, for all I knew you'd seen me coming to look at what was guarding the stone."

" _You_ let the troll in?"

"Certainly, I have a special gift with trolls. I could show you when we get to the chamber with the troll."

"What?"

"My contribution to the defences of course. Dumbledore asked me to help protect the stone, so of course I did my part. Couldn't have the stone going missing, could we?"

"What did you mean about when we get there?"

"Oh, I'm not going to kill you yet, Potter. You're going to help me get the stone first. You can start by giving me that key you're holding. Let's see if you've managed to find the right one, shall we?"

"Why would I help you?"

"Do you want me to kill you, Potter?"

"You said you're going to do that anyway."

"True. But I reckon you didn't come here alone. What's the chances that some of your little friends are hidden quivering somewhere round here? Shall we go find them? Kill them perhaps?"

"NO!"

"Ah, Harry, why don't you give me that key then?"

"Why are you doing this?"

"My Master will reward me greatly when I help restore him to his former glory."

"Voldemort!? Why would you work for him! He's evil!"

"Oh, Harry, Harry. I was once a foolish young man like you. Full of ridiculous ideas about good and evil. Lord Voldemort showed me how wrong I was. There is no good and evil, there is only power, and those too weak to seek it."

"That's bullshit," Harry retorted. Maybe Draco had been rubbing off on him. But now probably wasn't a good time to try and be a smart mouth. Draco felt he was holding his heart in his mouth. But when another voice replied, it seemed to stop for a second altogether.

"Do you want to say that to my face, Potter?" a high voice asked, seemingly from nowhere.

"Master, you are not strong enough!" Quirrell answered it, worried.

"I have strength enough… for this…"

 

It was a good job Draco had cast that silencing charm, because the three of them watching let out little screeches of terror as Quirrell reached up and began to unwrap his turban. Draco didn't want to know what was on the back of his head, silently begging him to not turn round. But he did, and what was revealed was worse than he could ever have imagined. Draco had spent far too long in his life gazing into the visage of the Dark Lord. But somehow the face on the back of Quirrell's head was even more horrifying. It was chalk white with glaring red eyes and slits for nostrils, looking even less human than the one he was used to (not that he ever got used to seeing the Dark Lord).

"Harry Potter," it whispered. "See what I have become? Mere shadow and vapour… I have form only when I can share another's body… but there have always been those willing to let me into their hearts and minds… Unicorn blood has strengthened me, these past weeks… you saw faithful Quirrell drinking it for me in the forest… and once I have the Elixir of Life, I will be able to create a body of my own. Now, how about you give me that key, and then we can get on with getting it, can't we?" Harry looked to be gripping the key so hard, his knuckles were bulging, white. But his arm didn't move.

"Don't make me hunt down and kill your friends, Harry."

 

Harry reluctantly raised his arm slightly, and Quirrell made a grab for the key. To Draco's surprise, both of them screamed, falling apart as if in pain.

"Seize him! SEIZE HIM!" Voldemort screeched, as Harry tried to stagger away. Quirrell obeyed and lunged into Harry, knocking him to the ground, trying to wrap his hands round the boy's neck.

"Master, I cannot hold him- my hands- my hands," he cried, the skin visibly blistering off as if he'd dunked them in boiling oil.

"Then kill him, fool, and be done!" shrieked Voldemort. That was it. They couldn't just stand and watch anymore. In unison, Draco, Ron and Hermione charged towards them, casting the first spells that came into their minds. Hermione cast a body-bind. Ron appeared to cast the Jelly-legs Jinx, which reacted rather odd in combination. Draco wasn't entirely sure in hindsight what curses he'd cast, shouting whatever words flew into his head. Harry had grabbed hold of Quirrell's face in his hands, and both of them were screaming.

 

It could have been a second, it could have been an hour, but eventually both screams faded out. Draco was about to grab for Harry, who was lying worryingly still, when he was pushed out of the way by a new, tall figure, who knelt down in front of Harry and Quirrell. Draco was about to curse him out of the way, when Hermione grabbed his arm. Draco paused, and looked properly. It was Dumbledore.

 

A terrible screech filled the room, and a mass of black smoke could be seen flying away. Voldemort had left his host.

 

Dumbledore stood up, Harry lying limp in his arms. Quirrell's body lay on the ground; by the burnt state of his face, there was no doubt the man was dead.

 

"Head back towards the exit," Dumbledore instructed them, "I shall return shortly." His phoenix appeared, he grabbed hold, and in a flash of light, he and Harry were gone. Draco, Ron and Hermione looked at each other in shock.

 

"How is Harry!?" Hermione managed to be the first to ask when Dumbledore returned.

"Do not worry. Your friend will be fine," the old man reassured them, "Madam Pomfrey is caring for him."

"What the hell were you doing, keeping the Philosopher's Stone in a school? You were using it as bait for Voldemort, weren't you?" Draco demanded. Dumbledore meet his eyes with a strong gaze, not quite managing to hind his annoyance at Draco's outburst. It took Draco a second to remember to divert his eyes. He wasn't sure if his Occlumency barriers held.

"We can talk about this later," Dumbledore eventually replied. "For now, let's get the three of you out of here." Once more his phoenix reappeared. Dumbledore grabbed hold of its tail-feathers, and held out his other hand. Draco purposely ignored it, and let Hermione be the one to accept it. Ron took her other hand, and Draco took his.

 

Draco had never travelled by phoenix before. It was weird. He knew phoenices could carry large amounts of weight, but still, it was strange feeling weightless for a second, then, in a flash of light, finding himself hitting the ground in another location. He looked around. It looked like a sitting room. Maybe one of the staff quarters? Whose?

 

The question was answered by the appearance of McGonagall, from an adjacent room. It looked like she'd been in the middle of doing some marking.

"Albus! What?" she gasped in surprise at finding four unexpected people in her sitting room.

"Minerva. These students have had quite a stressful adventure. Could you keep an eye on them, whilst I sort a few things?" Dumbledore replied, calmly. McGonagall was about to ask him what on Earth was going on, when he disappeared again. She looked frustrated. Draco didn't blame her.

 

He decided the best thing to do was give her an almost no-holds-barred description of the afternoon's events. She looked quite pale, collapsing back into one of her chairs, particularly after Ron and Hermione joined in. It appeared they hadn't forgiven her for ignoring them earlier.

 

When Dumbledore eventually returned, her eyes were shooting daggers into him. Dumbledore looked like he wanted to ask them some questions, but she cut him off.

"Why don't you head down to the hall to catch the end of dinner," she suggested to them, "I can let the Headmaster know everything you've told me." Did Dumbledore look slightly scared of her? Draco wouldn’t be surprised. He certainly wouldn't want to face a pissed off Minerva McGonagall. Just as they were leaving, she added "Remember not to tell anyone anything." Draco wasn't sure if she meant that or was just saying it for protocol. Surely she wasn't naïve enough to think rumours wouldn't be flying round the school by the end of the evening?

 

"I heard something happened with you and those Gryffindors again," Pansy whispered into his ear as soon as he'd sat down at the Slytherin table. _That was quick, even for her! What should I tell her?_ The part about the Dark Lord should probably be left out. And the Philosopher's Stone. But the rest…

"What will you do for me, if I tell you?" he replied.

"I'll owe you a favour." Draco smirked. Perfect. His status in Slytherin wasn't what it once was, a result of spending too much of the time hanging around with Gryffindors. Draco didn't regret that. But it couldn't help to have a few more favours in his pockets. You never know when they might come in useful.

"Well, you know Quirrell…"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I loved writing this chapter. I hope you like it. Wanted to make it a bit different, but lead to ultimately the same conclusion.   
> There's probably just going to be one more chapter of this fic to wrap it up, before we move onto Year 2.


	21. Chapter 21

They wouldn't let them visit Harry that night, or the next day, by which point rumours were flying around the school. Everyone kept asking Draco, Ron and Hermione what happened. Some of the time, he let Pansy answer questions for him. She seemed to think she was his official publicist on the matter. It saved him the bother of answering, so he decided to humour the girl.

 

Ron was all for trying to sneak into the Hospital Wing to visit Harry. Apparently his brothers had already tried to sneak in with a toilet seat of all things, but Pomfrey had caught them and sent them on their way. In the end, Draco managed to negotiate the compromise that if they hadn't heard anything by the next day, they'd do it. That should be plenty of time for Harry to have one of his "Potter-naps". If Draco seemed less concerned than his friends, it was only because he knew how much time Harry spent in the Hospital Wing in their original timeline, without ever seeming to have any negative effects.

 

In the end, they didn't have to break in. They were invited. Harry was apparently awake. They met Dumbledore, looking rather pleased with himself, on his way out. Harry filled them in on his conversation with him. Turns out Dumbledore had been much more forthcoming with information for his precious Chosen One than for the others (though Draco wouldn't doubt the man was still holding a mountain of likely important information back). Apparently the Philosopher's Stone was to be destroyed (probably why Draco remembered Flamel as a dead alchemist…), Voldemort was out there as a body-less spirit once more, and Harry had some kind of blood-protection from his mother, which was the reason Quirrell had burnt up when he touched him.

"Wow," Ron commented, seemingly unable to come up with anything else to say. He decided to help himself to some of the rather impressive haul of sweets Harry had been gifted by the student population. I swear he didn't normally get this many? Draco hadn't usually visited an injured Potter in his previous life, but the times he'd found himself around the Hospital Wing, he didn't remember ever seeing such a bountiful display.

"We're just glad you're alright!" Hermione told him.

"Yeah, how you feeling?" Draco added.

"Wood's planning on breaking you out this afternoon for the match against Ravenclaw…" Ron mumbled through a mouthful of chocolate frog. Harry clearly mustn't have been feeling back to full fitness yet, as he threw himself back into his bed, sighing at that, rather than leaping from it as Draco might have expected.

 

Harry didn't make it to the quidditch match, meaning Gryffindor were trounced, and Slytherin took the Quidditch Cup. Draco managed to not be too smug in front of his friends. Harry did however, manage to escape from Pomprey's ministrations to attend the End-of-Year Feast. Just like last time, it was decked in Slytherin green, but Draco had no doubt that would soon be changing. Dumbledore wouldn't even have to go too overboard this time with his points allocations, because Gryffindor was only 26 points behind Slytherin. He awarded Ron and Hermione ten points each, then (with what looked like reluctance) gave Draco ten too, which quietened down the Slytherin moaning slightly.

"And- to Mr Harry Potter- for pure nerve and outstanding courage…" he paused for dramatic effect, "I award Gryffindor House thirty points!"

 

The din from the Gryffindor table was deafening. Draco was only glad Dumbledore hadn't been quite as melodramatic as last time. There were no surprise House-Cup-winning points for Longbottom after all. The Slytherins were still pretty pissed as the decorations changed colour to red, though.

 

The last days passed quickly. Draco had done even better than he'd been trying to in his exams; he must try harder to not try next year. Soon they were sailing back across the lake and boarding the Hogwarts Express once more.

 

"Remember to write over the holidays!" Hermione told them all. Draco must have shown something in his face, because suddenly all his friends were staring at him, worried. The atmosphere in the compartment was becoming intensely awkward.

"Yeah, of course!" he replied after a second, "Just… be careful in your letters to me."

"Your parents…?" Ron began.

"They'll be fine. Just, don't write anything you don't want them to see. I'll try and see if I can have you guys round at some point, but I'll have to see." He didn't want to promise anything. He was pretty sure he could prevent his parents from trying to make him stop being friends with them. But getting them to accept and embrace his friendships was quite another.

 

Draco took a breath before alighting the train. He was looking forward to seeing his parents. More than that, he could do with a holiday. Unfortunately, he wasn't certain it would be very restful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm on a roll with writing at the moment, so thought I might as well finish this one off! Hope you enjoyed it! Thanks to everyone for reading, and leaving kudos and comments! The next story should hopefully be starting soon.


End file.
